Just wondering, how many more people who write something that a character does or says, something that on the face of it seems just part of moving a scene along, but much later in the story that throw away moment becomes relevant without your meaning to use it. I know that somewhere the subconscious comes into play, for me it is usually nearer unconscious. But joking apart, I never plan formerly, by that I mean I don't write notes, I do seem to always be running over ideas in my head and when I get the chance to sit and write then they take over. However, these things are not planned consciously, the story just goes that way and there is that bit from three, four or six chapters ago making itself useful.
So there we are, my question is how many of us do this. I do so hope it is all of us and not just me, if not I must be "The chosen one" that I have so often read about!
Just wondered. Regards Paul.
Oh yes a P.S. here
If it has happened and I'm sure it has. Did it make a big difference to the story, did it change the way you were intending to go?
Paul
This has happened to me a lot. In fact, the main plot of my seven book series was stumbled upon because I was rolling my shoulder one day as I typed. I gave my character the action without even realising it was because I was in pain. I had slept funny on my shoulder which cleared up after three days. My character obviously wasn't so lucky. I didn't stop writing about the reason for his shoulder-rolling for the next ten years!
So perhaps the moral here is 'Beware the sub-conscious plot line. It can lead to ten-year obsession!'
HI Paul,
I have been teaching writing for the screen for many years now and I know what this is. I call it 'the intuitive story element' and its much like what the other writers have been talking about.
You can actually manage how it works with practice, sounds strange but you can actually manage inspiration, although of course you will still be woken up in the night with those eureka moments.
An intuitive story element is something you come up with yet does not seem relevant however later on in your story it pays off in dividends! This is especially useful if you come across a story problem, if you think about it for about half an hour then stop. Wath TV or go to sleep. Then the solution presents itself like magic the next day.
What happens is your subconscious works in the background and solves the problem while your conscious mind is otherwise occupied. Einstein used to read pulp fiction when he had a problem while working on his special theory for relativity.
Regards
Ian
Hi Paul. This kind of thing can take your writing off into a different direction. It's happened to me a few times. A flash of something early on in the story, becomes more prominent later. But for me it's taken the story line onto another road that I didn't expect. Trust your sub-conscious, it always stores things away that might be useful later, it's very clever.