Writing premonitions

swvaughn · May 11, 2007

Have you ever stuck something in to your WIP for no apparent reason, only to discover later on in the story, or in the rewrites, that it had a purpose you never suspected?

I do this frequently. In the novel I just finished editing, I included a treehouse about halfway through. It seemed odd at the time, and I had no idea where this treehouse came from. I only wrote one scene that took place there.

Then, upon editing, I discovered the treehouse was important after all, and the ending of the novel (which I rewrote) took place there.

Does this happen to you? Why do you think it happens -- are you subconsciously planning to use the object/device/character later, or is it simply serendipitous?

Devil Ledbetter · May 11, 2007

This has happened to me so many times. Discovering how hard my subconscious works has been the coolest thing about writing a novel.

sunna · May 11, 2007

I just started running into this myself when I rounded into the home stretch of my first WIP; it was both creepy and very cool. My husband thought I was nuts, because I wandered around for a week all astonished at how things were coming together.
He kept saying "But don't you know how things are going to fit?"

scarletpeaches · May 11, 2007

It's happened a couple of times. It feels like I'm foreshadowing something I haven't yet identified. When everything slots into place and something I wrote about in chapter two or three turns out to play an important part in chapter nineteen, it feels like...I dunno...a jigsaw that's been completed.

TsukiRyoko · May 11, 2007

This happens to me a lot. I'll write whatever feels right at the time, whether it makes sense or not. I'm always surprised at how it fits in. It never works like I imagine it would work- it's usually much better!

swvaughn · May 11, 2007

Ah, excellent! I suspected I was not alone in this. In that case, I conclude that it has to be subconscious, rather than pure luck.

We are smarter than we realize.

Will Lavender · May 11, 2007

Absolutely. Happens all the time.

Kristin Landon · May 11, 2007

It scared me the first time this happened, which was the first time I ever wrote a novel. But it's happened many times since. There is clearly a lot more to writing than conscious intellectual processes.

I think it's amazing. When it all comes together and you realize that this dovetails perfectly with that and gives your MC the solid motivation for the other that you've been fretting about since Chapter 2—that's just magic.

TsukiRyoko · May 11, 2007

swvaughn said:
We are smarter than we realize.

Ahahahaha that's funny. I doubt we're very smart at all.
Perhaps all writers are just idiot savants?

Shady Lane · May 11, 2007

Yep yep.

This is actually, in my mind, what seperates a writer from a person who writes.

Writers can always see the big picture, even if they don't know it.
Everything has a purpose.

bunnygirl · May 11, 2007

Oh, yes. That happens to me, too. I write things that I'm not sure why I'm writing them, and they turn out to be important later. I also tend to find a lot of unintended symbolism when I go back and re-read. I never start out thinking, "I'll foretell a later happening with the symbolic use of blood, mirrors, egrets, or whatever." It just happens. It's enough to make a girl wish she were an undergrad again, just for the privilege of telling the prof he's full of it-- Melville didn't plan that whale to be symbolic of anything!!!

Wolvel · May 11, 2007

If I had a dime for every time I've done that over the years in my old comics to short stories to my current wip's.

Claudia Gray · May 11, 2007

It happens to me a lot, too. I think sometimes it's subconscious understanding of where you're going, story-wise; other times, I think it's a whole new level of invention you reach where you see earlier details in a new light.

Kristin Landon · May 11, 2007

Except sometimes it's just so perfect that it's impossible to believe that some deep part of my brain didn't have the whole plan laid out from the start. Sometimes it just doesn't seem possible for it to be creative hindsight.

The brain is a fascinating thing. And comes in handy.

Jo · May 11, 2007

Can I pile on? I've had it happen heaps, too.

The most mind blowing was, I had a good guy minor character (whose name jumped into my head during a shower), who ended up being the perfect bad guy, even though I had another character set up as the bad guy (who later became the misguided good guy). I didn't find this twist out until much later in the MS. Oh, and this new bad guy had another "good guy" (Ha!) from the beginning of the MS as her accomplice. Duh. You'd reckon I'd know... Everything was there... Just waiting for me to find it.

PastMidnight · May 12, 2007

Happens all the time. I love this!

swvaughn · May 12, 2007

TsukiRyoko said:
Ahahahaha that's funny. I doubt we're very smart at all.
Perhaps all writers are just idiot savants?

Well, I've got the idiot part down...

Thanks for sharing, everyone. This is immensely enlightening -- I stand once again in awe of human ingenuity.

People are endlessly fascinating.

Nakhlasmoke · May 12, 2007

Just chiming in to say, me too. And i also end up having things that are symbolic and full of meaning without consciously setting them down. When everything falls into place I get a happy warm buzz.

The Lady · May 12, 2007

All the time. The worst/best one was when I had invented this strange monkey like creature to accompany one of the characters. It was a nasty creature and bugged me no idea. One night, lying in bed I swear I heard a voice saying, "tell her about the monkey now "(OK, mild exaggeration there) and suddenly I completely understood who the monkey was and what all his other functions were going to be.

I have now decided to name this condition as "Tell Her About The Monkey Syndrome"

loiterer · May 12, 2007

If it didn't happen, I probably wouldn't be so committed to writing. It's one of the rewards.

historian · May 12, 2007

loiterer said:
If it didn't happen, I probably wouldn't be so committed to writing. It's one of the rewards.

Oh, Yes!

I gave the Mennonite mother in my novel six different German names. None of them fit. Halfway through writing the novel I discovered she was English, not German. Who'da thunk it. Deepened the story tremendously.

historian

eliflauta · May 12, 2007

Yes, I've done it often, but I've also added random things that I take out later. It goes both ways, as most things in this world do. I think that afteryou've written it, your subconscience wants you to make it part of the story, which is how it shows up later; you don't know it, but you want it to fit in.

SkyWorthy · May 12, 2007

Me, I'll add random things that make no sense and then when i get thinking about it, it brings out my story even more. i love it when this happens. I actually had it happen about 30 minutes ago as I was thinking about one of the stories I'm working on

Legionsynch · May 12, 2007

I've had it happen a few times in the first half of the novel, and every time it happens, I'm always astounded. I can't really have been that smart as to set myself up that perfectly, can I?

Of course, there are (as others have mentioned) just as many times where I've had things to strike out, or I've had to go back and add the details I need for later in the novel.

IrishScribbler · May 12, 2007

swvaughn said:
Have you ever stuck something in to your WIP for no apparent reason, only to discover later on in the story, or in the rewrites, that it had a purpose you never suspected?

Yes. In fact, in my WIP I created a reference to a story in Celtic mythology. Now, that story has developed into an important aspect to Deirdre's story.

Writing premonitions

swvaughn

adrift

Devil Ledbetter

Come on you stranger, you legend,

sunna

scarletpeaches

TsukiRyoko

Forced into cell phone life

swvaughn

adrift

Will Lavender

Everything is what it seems.

Kristin Landon

TsukiRyoko

Forced into cell phone life

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

bunnygirl

Token Rabbit

Wolvel

Write the Damn Book!

Claudia Gray

Kristin Landon

Jo

Travelling the re-write road

PastMidnight

Oponionated

swvaughn

adrift

Nakhlasmoke

yes

The Lady

Critical Member

loiterer

historian

eliflauta

SkyWorthy

Legionsynch

IrishScribbler