Major plot change anxiety anyone?

Hi Exir,
That's awesome that you're on the second draft! So exciting As for your plot change, maybe you just need to take some time to reacquaint yourself with the character as he or she has been changed by the changes to the plot. Perhaps you should revisit any character exploration exercises you used to get to know the character before you started?

I think the second draft is in some ways more difficult than the first. With the first, there is less pressure-the point is to finish, and it's okay to have some writing that sucks. With the second draft, there is more pressure to polish and to improve that it takes some of the joy of writing out of it. So it might not feel the same as writing the first draft from scratch. It's still enjoyable, but in a different way if that makes sense?

Hope this helps! Good luck with your second draft!

Speaking personally, I'd sit back and think about it for a while, until I understood where my discomfort lies. I find I have to process ideas like major changes in "background" for a few days, and then I suddenly realize why it's a good idea and what was causing my discomfort. Then I can start writing again without constantly worrying that I'm doing the wrong thing. But that's just me...

Well, I just wrote a major change into my notes for the second draft of my WIP! Coincidence or synchroncity?

I felt through the first draft that a certain plot inciting situation could use twinking, but I wasn't sure I had to try a change until today, when I was working the final second draft outline. Now I'm excited to get started on the actual rewriting!

Just keep a copy of the first draft unaltered. If you find your changes aren't working, you'll be able to go back and start again from the pristine original.

Maybe you haven't given yourself enough time to absorb the idea. My understanding is that many authors finish the first draft and then take a break from it, possibly spending their time on a second novel, on short stories, or on some other project. This gives them time to chew on the changes they want to make.

I'm trying to use this method myself, having finished my own first draft within the past few days. I'm tempted even now to go back and start changing things, but I know I shouldn't...

Exir said:

And I think the second draft is quite enjoyable, actually. Call me a weirdo, but I like tightening sentences and rephrasing a 10 word sentence to make it 8 words. This kind of tinkering with language can be enjoyable.

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Weirdo...

Kidding I actually really enjoy the second draft too. I love pulling my work apart and then putting it back together bigger and stronger, but the second draft does feel differently from the euphoria of writing the first draft for sure.

And there's some good advice in taking time to let it gel (a few weeks if that) That sometimes makes it easier to approach with a fresh outlook. The trick is to keep writing on something else while you let the first idea gel, and that is a trick because it's hard to shut off one project and focus on the next when that first project isn't done. (and it's tempting to get caught up in doing lots of first drafts and never finishing anything, so finding the balance is key)

anyways, good luck again! I'm so glad you were able to find that spark. Once you find it, it's hard to turn it off, isn't it? I find the ideas just keep piling up while I'm still slogging away to finish just one and by the time I'm finished, another ten or so are poking around in my brain.

Exir said:

I have finished the first draft of my story, and now I'm doing the second draft. I suddenly thought of a major change to the story, and the change "feels" right to me, but somehow, for some weird reason, I'm reluctant to change it. I worry a lot about it.

Does anyone else have the same problem?

When I wrote the first draft, I wrote in first-person, and sometimes I felt it wasn't me writing, but my character possessing me. I feel like I AM the character, living in his world. Now that I changed a major characteristic of the character, whenever I write I feel I'm out of character. It is almost as if I know that something has changed to the story, but subconsciously I still can't adjust to this change of plot. Oh well.

Any ideas on how to solve this problem?

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I wish I had that problem. I'm looking at the very earliest draft of something I wrote a while ago and I'm pretty lost...I switched lots of stuff around and I don't think I thought about it all that much.

Kind of an esoteric treat though...looking at old first drafts. I find my earlier conceptions quite twisted. The revisions made the text into a more functional but less strange novel. I kind of like the nuttiness of the first draft...I'm not sure it would appeal to anyone else (and I guess it didn't since the beta crew probably asked for all the changes I made).