Young Writers Society

So, I'm working on the Mage Chronicles. And, for this book at least, I had a pretty strict outline written out. Chapter-By-Chapter and everything. Now, though, I've started to stray from tha original plan. It's not a big deal but it does slightly annoy me. Has this happened to anyone else?

You can't always plan for everything; some paths just feel right. Because I liked writing Chaser for Dream-Hunters so much, I made him the main villain instead of Silas. Looking back, I'm glad I made that decision.

Overall, it's hard to stick to a rigid plotline. After all, writing is the state of constantly thinking of what comes next. It's not usually a bad thing to deviate from a predetermined storyline; make sure you're comfortable with it, though.

In essence, a storyline is the interactions of its characters with themselves, each other, and their environment. You could develop these in any order. Every author has their own style.

Sticking to storylines is something I have trouble doing, being that new ideas and possibilities constantly present themselves. What's important is to go forward with confidence in the path that you choose. If you're unable to like it, then you might want to reconsider.

And this all really burns down to the conclusion of your novel. Ask yourself this: Does it affect the ending? How so? Does it change the themes or relationships between characters in any way? Understanding how events change the characters and setting, which is kind of the core of the plot, is a good thing to keep track of.

In conclusion, all I can say is this: It's neither a good nor bad event yet. Ultimately, it's how you handle it that determines the outcome. The best advice I can give you is to write what makes sense to you. Events are driven by motivation, after all.

I hope this helps a little bit.
-Chaser

My favourite writing quote is "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader" (Robert Frost). Basically, if you do plan for everything, then the book can end up feeling predictable because you've had the same ideas in your head from the beginning.

By deviating from your outline, you can find stuff that's genuinely surprising. It came from the past situations but not in the way you expected, meaning that it's organic from the characters. It's not based on what you think will happen, but what has actually happened.

Embrace deviating from your outline. You'll end up with a better story for it. (Just be sure to go back and polish everything, later, so the story is still a unified whole)