Suprised at what you wrote?

ccarver30 · Apr 11, 2007

Have you ever had a scene all nice and planned out in your head but when you went to write it, it turned out completely different?

I have had this happen several times. It is like someone else took over writing and I wasn't even there. I planned on making a scene very romantic and sensual, but when I wrote it, it turned out to be that he rejected her advances! WTH?
Not that I am unhappy with what I wrote at all, it is just different than what I had originally planned.

Ever have this happen? Did you stick with what you wrote while "in the moment" or did you go back to the original idea?

maestrowork · Apr 11, 2007

I live for that "zone" when I write and the surprises that follow.

Calla Lily · Apr 11, 2007

I love it when that happens to me!

spike · Apr 11, 2007

I definitely look forward to that. That's when I know I'm in the flow. I'm an outliner, so I know where I want my characters to go, but I'm frequently surprised at how they get there.

Jamesaritchie · Apr 11, 2007

Scenes

Well, I never plan scenes out ahead of time, so they often surprise me. But what really surprises me is when an entire story seems as if someone else wrote it.

wordmonkey · Apr 11, 2007

This is really cool. To me, it's like the characters have really taken over. I have this dea of how a scene will pan out and the characters suddenlt revolt.

Love it.

maestrowork · Apr 11, 2007

Jamesaritchie said:
Well, I never plan scenes out ahead of time, so they often surprise me. But what really surprises me is when an entire story seems as if someone else wrote it.

This happens to me especially when I write outside of my "comfort zone," my usual genres. I wrote a horror/slasher piece once and my readers said, "You wrote this? So unlike you."

Claudia Gray · Apr 11, 2007

Yeah, definitely. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, I find it's for the better -- or, at least, that it's a sign the scene needs to go in another direction.

ccarver30 · Apr 11, 2007

ClaudiaGray said:
Yeah, definitely. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, I find it's for the better -- or, at least, that it's a sign the scene needs to go in another direction.

Exactly. If it was meant to be, it would have come out the way you originally had planned it! LOL

Namatu · Apr 11, 2007

I'd written a scene and knew something was wrong with it (I couldn't move forward to the next scene). Eventually I decided to try a rewrite. All of a sudden, my two characters were arguing rather viciously with one another. That was never the plan! I told them they were supposed to get along, but apparently they felt otherwise. Their taking charge made things much better and unstuck me.

Jamesaritchie · Apr 11, 2007

maestrowork said:
I wrote a horror/slasher piece once and my readers said, "You wrote this? So unlike you."

Which may be the highest compliment. Er, at least I take such comments as compliments. If they aren't, I don't want to know.

victoriastrauss · Apr 11, 2007

ccarver30 said:
Have you ever had a scene all nice and planned out in your head but when you went to write it, it turned out completely different?

Sure. I think all writers do. The trick is recognizing whether it's a flash of useful inspiration that takes you in a new direction, or a moment of excess in which your imagination flies off the rails. Sometimes an unexpected change thrills me while I'm writing it, but when I wake up the next morning I know in my gut that it's wrong. I think I probably toss stuff like this as often as I keep it.

- Victoria

ccarver30 · Apr 11, 2007

Namatu said:
I'd written a scene and knew something was wrong with it (I couldn't move forward to the next scene). Eventually I decided to try a rewrite. All of a sudden, my two characters were arguing rather viciously with one another. That was never the plan! I told them they were supposed to get along, but apparently they felt otherwise. Their taking charge made things much better and unstuck me.

LOL! Yes, there must be a hidden reason it came out the way it did. I believe in destiny.

Soccer Mom · Apr 11, 2007

I usually keep the stuff that surprises me. I love it when I think I know what I want from the story and it goes someplace else. I also love it when I come back to something that was painful to write and have that eureka-this-ain't-bad moment!

Anyone else find things you wrote six months ago and barely remember? (No, SM. Just you.) It's almost like someone else wrote it and I'm just now seeing the theme and stuff that I couldn't see when I was close to the piece. I always let my short stories "cook" for a while before editing and submitting them.

Vincent · Apr 11, 2007

When they turn out like crap? Yeah, happens to me all the time. I then tell myself those were 'practice scenes'.

Namatu · Apr 11, 2007

ccarver30 said:
LOL! Yes, there must be a hidden reason it came out the way it did. I believe in destiny.

I believe that my subconscious knows things before the rest of me figures it out. I need it to tell me sooner sometimes.

Mud Dauber · Apr 11, 2007

It's such a cool thing when that detour happens; it's when I most feel like a Real Writer. I've tried to explain this to the non-writer people in my life, and they all think I've got issues. I get the, "ohhhh-kaaaaaay then" followed by a polite change of subject.

That's when I come here and hook up with the other crazies!

Novelhistorian · Apr 11, 2007

For my first suspense novel, I wanted the plot to seem as unpredictable as possible, especially to me. I had no outline and only a rough idea of my ending, so whatever direction a scene went, I followed. My main character kept trying to plan things that went wrong or differently from how he expected, which was exactly the feeling I wanted. On rewrite, I had to close off one or two blind alleys, resectioning as I went, but I've never had so much fun.

jnesvold · Apr 11, 2007

I have experienced this. I usually stickwith what I wrote, rather than try to write what I intended. I figure there's gotta be a reason it came out the way it did.

TheIT · Apr 11, 2007

Soccer Mom said:
Anyone else find things you wrote six months ago and barely remember?

Me, too. While I was working on my first draft for my novel, I made sure not to reread what I'd already written so I wouldn't cast the words in concrete in my mind. When I went back and read the whole thing from the beginning, I had a lot of "Oh, yeah, now I remember this," moments.

Birol · Apr 11, 2007

ccarver30 said:
Have you ever had a scene all nice and planned out in your head but when you went to write it, it turned out completely different?

I often hear novelists and short story writers say things like this. Does the same hold true, I wonder, for screenwriters and poets?

Jamesaritchie · Apr 12, 2007

scene

Birol said:
I often hear novelists and short story writers say things like this. Does the same hold true, I wonder, for screenwriters and poets?

Sure.

Pagey's_Girl · Apr 12, 2007

Oh yeah - one of my characters ran off with my female MC - she was engaged to someone else until I started writing his "friend" into the story. The friend got the girl...

lfraser · Apr 12, 2007

Yes, but if it works I attribute it to serendipity rather than some mysterious process whereby my characters "speak" to me. Often the changes in direction happen in the middle of a scene that is primarily dialogue; I'll be struggling, because dialogue is not my strongest suit, and something will just come out, it sounds interesting, and I'll keep going in that direction to see if it works. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it's a red herring.

Nakhlasmoke · Apr 12, 2007

Yep. I like surprises, I also like it when the characters take on a life of their own and rewrite my story and completely surprise me with their new ending.

Suprised at what you wrote?

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