Evolution of a story

Every writer’s process is different. Every story is different. What works for one story may not work for another. That’s a lesson I find myself learning over and over again, even now. It is especially true with the current projects sitting on my desktop, waiting for their turn.

Now, I’ll admit, part of my issue often comes down to Myrtle the Evil Muse. I can’t speak for other writers, but my muse is a fickle bitch. She might decide she absolutely must have me working on something and then take a hike a week into it. Or I might be 2/3 of the way through something when she ambushes me with something new and shiny. Sometimes, I can sate her demands by making a few notes or writing a scene or two. Other times. she keeps the new story going so long and loud I have little choice but to try to either write both projects at the same time or focus on the new one exclusively.

But it goes beyond that. Some stories as just fine being written in Word. I appreciate that because it is the program I’m most familiar with. One project would only let me write the rough draft in Ulysses. That wasn’t too bad because it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles and distractions Word and similar programs have. Right now, I’m trying out LibreOffice, after many years away from it and away from OpenOffice. Why? Because the current project did NOT like Word. It doesn’t matter that the two are similar. There are enough differences in the way LO looks that it keeps me focused.

So, what does that have to do with the evolution of a story? In this case, it’s been an interesting journey. I’ve posted over the last week or so about the new project, a prequel to the Honor & Duty series. Honor & Duty: Origins (working title) goes back to the early days of Fuercon and focuses on the life and exploits of Evangeline Cordova, Ashlyn Shaw’s many-times great-grandmother. It’s a story that has demanded my attention and it’s been an interesting journey bringing it from those first few ideas into something that I am actually writing.

When the first ideas formed, I made notes, like I always do. Initially, a few on paper, others on my note app on my phone when I was out and about. Even a few on my Kindle Scribe. (Which I love because I can convert to text and send via email to myself and open in a word processing program.)

But, that’s when I started getting stuck. I knew what I wanted to do with the story. I had the general idea, but it wasn’t translating from brain to page. It didn’t matter what program or app I used. So. . . I went hunting. I know it sounds strange, but sometimes, a change of app, like a change in location, can help kickstart the creative juices for m.e Usually, I don’t stay with the new app for long—which is why I look for open source apps as much as possible. It is why I went back to try LO again.

This is a long-about way of saying the creative juices have been flowing and writing has been happening. But, along the way, changes have been made to the initial story “outline” (and I use that term loosely) I came up with. Some characters have been add and others removed. Some I planned on killing off live while others I expected to play major roles in the story die. In some ways, this book will be darker than the others in the Honor & Duty universe. But, as with the other books, there is still the basic premise that the human spirit can be beaten, tormented and it can come out on top. It doesn’t always happen, but the possibility is there.

What this means is the snippets I promised for the beginning of the week will actually start Friday. Sorry for the delay, but the change in the overarching plot required me going back and doing some very serious rewriting of the opening chapters.

Until then!