Enough Bemoaning

I don't even want to go back and count the number of posts I've written about my troubles with the manuscript I'm writing. I'm thinking it's many, and it's repetitive. I do sometimes use this blog to work out the kinks in my writing, which is okay because I don't think I have many (any?) readers. 

But now I'm done complaining. I hit upon what was causing my dissatisfaction with the story and I fixed it. I started a new document that detailed my MC's interactions with a new character and yesterday I slotted this into the manuscript. And it works.

I can now see the story's possibilities. I'm well aware that the previously written ending will need to go, and I'm okay with that. Ideas are just that, even if one has wasted a whole lot of time on them. I'm generally not on board with that whole "first draft" mindset. The story is the story. But if one seizes upon a better story, they need to serve the book by writing it. 

If the author isn't even interested in their own narrative, why would anyone else be? With regard to everything that was already written, at least I have a road map for where the story might lead, although I'm pretty sure it'll veer off onto some unmarked roads. And no, I don't know what's going to happen. That's the fun that I was missing. 

I do tend to become protective of my words, as in, "How dare you snatch those away from me? Do you know how hard I worked on them?" But words are not in limited supply. I can always find more, and better ones. If I was to rewrite one of my previous novellas using the exact same plot, the words would be completely different. Right now I'm not exactly ready to let the previous paragraphs slip through my grasp. I'll probably copy them over to a blank document "just in case". Who knows? I might be able to rummage through them and find a gem or two. 

The other thing is, not every idea is good. I'm not even an idea person. The only morsel I ever start with is a premise, a really basic premise. Then I see where it leads. If I'm interested, it leads to exotic places. If I'm bored, it lands on basic tropes that've been penned a million times before. That's lazy and a waste of good writing time.

So now I'm interested; eager, in fact, to find out what will happen.