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Can we talk about the time my whole plot fell apart in the middle of a coffee shop?
I was in a Starbucks in Denver, 20,000 words into a draft, when I realized my main character had no reason to do the big thing I needed her to do. I scrapped the next three chapters right there, started over with a simple list of what she actually wanted. Has anyone else had to stop and completely rebuild a character's motivation halfway through?
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butler.mark6mo ago
Been there, done that (and it hurts every time). Good call starting fresh with what she actually wanted.
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paulperry6mo ago
My old boss used to say we spent 80% of our time fixing the wrong solution. It's like when you try to patch a hole in a wall with the wrong stuff, and you just make a bigger mess. Starting over feels like a step back, but it's the only way to actually move forward. Why do we always try to save the broken thing instead of just building the right one?
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laura_ross5mo ago
Ugh, it's the sunk cost fallacy in action. We keep throwing good time after bad because we already spent so much on the broken thing.
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