Evolving plots

Characters and plots have a life of their own (or at least they do in my writing).

If I wrote a story for every outline I make, I'd be swimming in books in a brand new paper mache house. I feel like I write a new outline every other time I attempt to write. Now, my outlines are usually more general things, but that's not the point here. The point is: my writing seems to take itself in new directions at it's own whims.

Right now, I've been working on another Janod short story. He's at boot camp, and since I've never been through boot camp, I have to rely on research and the stories of my friends who have. One scene I've been working on, has not been working. I've written a few outlines, but whenever I try to commit it to print the magic eludes me. 

I booted up Netflix for some research. I ended up watching a documentary on marine boot camp for an hour and half. Then, I talked to my wife who's ex-ROTC. The end result? I'm no longer going to write the scene in anything remotely the way it had originally formed in my head.  Hopefully, it'll be much stronger as a result.

The same thing has happened in my 'novel.' Characters have changed gender, a pair of throwaway characters gained new life and permanence, and several of the names are still placeholders until I figure out a naming convention I really like. More changes are yet to come!

Personally, I don't think evolving stories are a bad thing. The hardest part is to get something on paper. Once it's there, it can be changed, but you have to get it there! I have (and I'm sure every aspiring writer has) many thoughts of scenes of books that could be. They're all quite awesome, but utterly nebulous and worthless in my head. Until something is committed to print, it has little value. 

With every sentence, some of the apparition from my imagination takes form. As it takes form, the rules of this world start to take hold. Does the scene make sense? Is this what I had really imagined, or are the words changing it into something else?  It can be frustrating when things don't work out as planned, but in a way it makes writing a story more of an adventure in itself.

I'm looking forward to finishing the ride one day.