Authors, as a rule, have a tendency of trying to keep their stories straight. And that goes double if you're writing to an outline or plot points. However, if you're working on a series, it's entirely possible that something you did in part 1 is going to contradict what your plan actually was for part 5, 6, or 7. And while the urge might be to go back and change the earlier installments, take a moment and ask whether it can send your story in a more interesting direction to leave things as they are, and to go off in a new direction.
I have an example from some of my own work this week, but word to the wise, spoilers ahead for The A.L.I.C.E. Files... and if you haven't checked them out yet, I highly recommend subscribing to the channel and at least taking in the first season, which we just finished.
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| Because this is a strategy that I've put to a lot of use. |
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Why Did She Say "Foundation"?
For folks who haven't tuned-in to this ongoing audio drama series, the premise is fairly simple. A young woman is made an impossible offer by the shadowy organization known as the Carroll Institute, which comes with a suspicious amount of money and some really stellar benefits. It's revealed once her contract is signed that the Carroll Institute is an organization dedicated to exploring parallel dimensions, and "Alice's" job is to review the reports sent to her by the archive.
But while she's on the phone with her new supervisor, Marianne refers to it as the Foundation instead of the Institute.
Now, I'm not going to lie, this was a mistake on my part. Somehow I made it all the way through the scripting, recording, and editing, and that was a mistake that just stayed in all the way until the episode went live. For those who don't know, a Foundation is an organization that primarily gives out grants to other organizations, whereas an Institute is something that has a research arm. So, clearly, the Carroll Institute falls into that latter definition... but given that the episode was already out, and it would take a lot of work to edit this one word, I didn't want to start the entire process over for such a small change. Which left me asking the question; why did the Assistant Director of Anomalous Exploration refer to the Institute as a Foundation?
Well, the boring answer is that Marianne is overworked, and she misspoke while she was on the phone with Alice. However, this is a sci fi reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, so I didn't want to have boring, mundane answers to questions like this. So instead, the answer that's currently in place (and this is where we get into spoiler territory) is that Marianne is not from the same dimension that Alice is. Marianne is a transfer from a parallel timeline, and in the world she's from she did work for the Carroll Foundation, which operated as a kind of branch office for the Institute as a whole.
It's the same reason she mildly abuses her authority, and imports Right Stuff Cola products for her department... that soda company went out of business years ago in Alice's dimension, but Marianne enjoys the product, so she ensures she and her people have easy access to it.
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| It's good for morale... and it's probably cheaper on the budget. |
And this is the sort of thing I'm talking about. Just because something is a mistake, that doesn't mean you can't use the Bob Ross strategy and turn it into a happy little accident. Especially when that accident opens up some interesting questions about the story and its progression as you go forward.
Now, if you haven't actually published your story yet, the easy thing to do when you find a mistake or an issue is to just edit it in the moment so you can have a smooth, polished story. But when you're working on a series, that isn't always an option. Whether it's an ongoing audio drama, a novel series, or just a collection of short stories, you don't always have the option to go back and change things around once you've already put the "mistake" out into the world... and even if you do have the option to go back and edit, it can often be more trouble than it's worth.
So take a moment, and ask what other directions the story might go in, which will turn that screw up into a seed you planted early on that will bear fruit later.
And for folks who don't follow the Azukail Games YouTube channel (which you should also subscribe to along with The A.L.I.C.E. Files), I did talk about this topic in terms of roleplaying games as well!
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