Mawwiage, as they say in the Princess Bride, that dream within a dream . . . this February I’ve been working on a marriage of two storylines rather than two people (sorry, family!).

I feel like going back into a first draft to add a storyline, on top of the normal level of editing, might be adding another level of crazy on top of crazy. Or, maybe it’s just an excuse of mine to keep writing new content when I’m supposed to be evaluating old stuff. 🙂 But why would a normal person do such a thing? Well . . .

  • Maybe, like me, you finished the first draft of your story and realized it came out much shorter than your target length.
  • Or something ends up happening at the end of your story that needs some explaining, and adding a few lines won’t cut it. This happened with a fantasy series I wrote several years ago.
  • Perhaps the story came out feeling one-sided and you want to add another perspective from an existing character. Technically you’re not adding a completely new story, but you’re still writing new scenes and fleshing out more details.
  • Maybe you had an awesome idea that just happens to fit perfectly with the world you’ve already created, and writing it as a separate story just won’t do . . . but you have to be careful about that, because editors later on might tell you to pare things down again. The new story has to support the existing, main storyline.

So I’m not completely off my rocker for wanting to add new story. There are lots of reasons for it!

And to be fair, I’ve gone about it very methodically. Or at least, partly methodically. I started by looking at the weaknesses in the first draft, which — to my eye — included: too few characters (aka too few possible suspects!) and not enough world-building early on. Adding an active character with her own supporting characters and story arc was an obvious solution to this: lots of suspects, and by making her story arc most relevant during the first half of the story, I gave myself plenty of opportunities for outlining more details in the world. Once I had come up with the character herself, her supports and story quickly followed. Then I just had to take a look at my current scenes, add her into the relevant ones, and mix in some scenes of her own.

Yesterday I finished writing most of those new scenes. I’ve been working my way through the second draft from start to finish, making changes and additions as I go — that way, everything will feel cohesive. At least, that’s the hope . . . I have to admit, it’s tough to be adding story while also editing. You don’t create and edit with the same hat on. The creative hat logo says “let’s see what happens!” while the editing hat logo says “do I really need that?”. Needless to say, switching between the two on the fly isn’t always successful.

I’d still say it is worth it. I love this new character, and the story is much better for her presence. But as I add in all these complications, the editor on my shoulder is muttering this old quote:

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.

Albert Einstein

But no simpler. That’s the important part — some of those new complications are necessary. And if not . . . Well, I tell myself, that is what the third draft is for. Smoothing out the details and letting the story really shine. 🙂