A WIP Update
There’s nothing like seeing how your story concepts and ideas evolve as a writer. One of my current projects is a short story I aim to publish this year. It’s funny how long I sat on the concept and even how long ago I wrote an original draft with the initial ideas implemented. There was no working title to place on this first draft. Just the thoughts that came with how a delusional man was pushing himself into the life of an unaware woman. I clung to this scenario idea in the first draft and the next couple. Each time I sat to write it, something felt off. Like I was missing a key piece to how this could truly be. With each draft, I felt like I couldn’t put my finger on the issues preventing me from feeling like the story was on the right track. Then it hit me. I had the wrong characters and the wrong setting.
Not only was my delusional man, not a man, but the unaware woman in the scenario wasn’t completely oblivious. The setting was also all wrong. It’s a short story, so I knew there wouldn’t be too many scenes involved, but there are still essential key pieces to any story. Pieces I realized after a few drafts I had completely wrong for the story I wanted to write.
First, it was realizing my characters were wrong. It was a story about a delusional man with his eyes set on an unaware woman. It was one woman looking at another who perhaps isn’t totally oblivious. Second, it was the setting. Particularly the initial setting, which for the sake of not revealing too much I won’t go into super detail. I will say the original setting definitely better suits as a last setting where events unfold in the story.
Re-reading over the first draft again, I realized how off track I had gotten even from the actual story I really want to write within this concept. In a way, this is nice as I have this original draft with these characters who I could easily put into a new story at another time. Sure there would need to be some tweaks, but overall I could see these two existing at a different time in a different story.
For now, I am enjoying the process of getting my correct characters and settings in line for the story I am inspired to write. I think the corrections are definitely shaping this out to be the story I actually want to read myself. Which is great as I do believe as writers, we should write the stories we would want to read ourselves.
Part of this process has been starting a new draft without an outline, stopping, and now finding myself working out a skeletal outline. Normally with short stories I tend to be a pantser, but this one I feel the need for some bare bones essentially lined out for it. Nothing too set in stone as I don’t want to stifle the fun creative flow writing it out, but definitely something to keep me on track with the story I want to tell and ultimately read back.
