TECH: Nanowrimo Notes #5: Extra Versions?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

aka Multiple Versions -- Alternate History Can Be Your Friend?

Whenever we make a decision, there are usually multiple possibilities. We may decide to buy a Chevrolet, but we could've bought a Rolls-Royce, a Toyota, a Hyundai, or what about motorcycles? All kinds of possibilities, right? (as long as they're black, as our friend Ford might advise us :-) Now normally in life and in writing, we may make a list of possibilities and think about them, but when we make a decision, we do one thing -- or write one version. We pick out what we think will be the most effective and useful path, and beat our way down it. And of course once we start down it, we usually never think again about those other possibilities.

However, sometimes it's easier to explore the possibilities, especially in writing or in plotting and character development, by trying out several of them. In software engineering we might call it prototyping, and in some areas it's called pilot testing -- or trial runs -- but the good news is that in writing it's fairly easy to write out a different version. Your hero could go into the basement, run upstairs, or simply hide in the closet with the telephone and call the police? Write out all three versions, at least roughly, and see where they go. Down in the basement, they get to face the killer in the dark by themselves which might very well bring out certain character traits. Upstairs? Well, now the hero gets to figure out how to escape out the window and over the rooftops. Hiding in the closet takes us in yet another direction, as the hero realizes that everyone else in the fraternity was killed -- and the police think he did it?

You get the idea. It's pretty simple to do. At a major decision point or plot twist, make a list of possibilities. What could happen? You need to do that anyway, just so that you can figure out which way you want to go with your plot. And go ahead and write up the scene or direction you would normally go.

But think about taking one or two or even more of those unused possibilities -- and write up that scene. Make it real, with the setting, characters, and actions/reactions that would happen if . . . you can always cut out the versions that you don't need or use later, but you might discover that one of those other possibilities goes somewhere interesting.

If you prefer, consider some of the alternative actions that other characters might take. Your hero goes into the basement -- what does the antagonist do? Turn and walk out of the house, then blow the dynamite charge they set? Pick up the will from the table and leave? Take their gun out and go down the steps, slowly, slowly . . . what do you think the villain will do? What happens then?

The trick here is to think about alternatives, and then to draft up one or more. Even if you decide not to use them, you will have learned a little bit more about the characters, setting, plot interactions, and so forth. That will make your main line richer. You might not have even thought about what was in the closet before that cowardly version of the hero decided to hide there -- and now you know there is a down coat hanging in there, ready for someone to use when they walk out into the snow.

So write up extra scenes. Sure, when you get to revision and editing you'll want to cut the extra ones, and focus on the scenes that fit and support your plot. But that description of the mantle that you put in the version where the hero built a fire in the fireplace might turn out to be useful? Or the sketch of the villain's war history? Bits and pieces from those alternate lines of plot history can often be woven into your main story.

And sometimes you'll find that the alternate is better than the plan, and decide to take that road less travelled by. And that may make all the difference.

And in the meantime, for nanowrimo, you've got more words.
tink
(about 700 words, for fun)

You've got words -- that new nanowrimo movie, starring Ida Writesalot and Clicky Keyboards, the greasy one.