The Devil is in the Details: Working out errors

[HLGStrider]

In writing, what's the biggest detail you have forgotten?

Two or so years ago I scratched out a novel where a chain reaction is set off by the murder of a king. When they find the king murdered one political faction accuses the other, arresting the main character, then the other faction regains power and sets the main character up in the king's place, of course saying that the first faction killed the king, and then there is a war and a marriage and a partridge in a pear tree. . .

and I wrote a long book about all this great intrigue. I finished it up, read it, and realized I had never said who really killed the king.

By the time the book was finished the king was only the first domino. No one remembered him. No one cared, but gosh, that is a big detail to leave out. (Truthfully, I like the book better without it).

In the book I just finished writing a character goes off to rescue a stolen relic and finds instead a conspiracy meant to enslave her and her people, etc, etc, etc. In the end I had her saving everybody, but I forgot the relic totally. I just had it disappear somewhere, going from something so very important that it is vital that the person rescued it to something I even forgot to put in the ending. (This I really do need to rewrite because, unlike the first where no body cares, it comes across as a gaping hole.).

Have you ever forgotten something? Changed emphasis in the middle of a book? Had a character have a brother at the first of the book and forget that and refer to him as an only child at the end?

Even professionals do this, and generally it is worked out in second or third drafts (sometimes by editors rather than writers, if my reading is correct). Still, these gaps can be a pain to figure out and fix.

Have you ever had any? How do you deal with them?

[e.Blackstar]

Oh, I hate that! I do that all the time-get so engrossed in one character or another and their dilemmas or whatever that I forget half the story's point.

[Hobbit-GalRosie]

Oh gosh, I used to do that too! That's why I don't write much anymore. I always find that I liked the ideas I started out with better once I remember them, but I can never extricate them from all the other garbage I tagged on once I got carried away :(.

[Zale]

I wrote a (very) short story once (in fact I think I posted it on here) and on the first draft, it started out being set in the early night but ten minutes later there was a brilliant ray of sunshine illuminating something or other. I only noticed once I'd typed the thing out. So night became merely a stormy day.
And when I write I tend to find that unless I have a very clear idea of where the plot is going, it ups and turns into something completely different. Often more interesting, but plots should obey the writer, not the other way around. :rolleyes:

[Hammersmith]

I've had to go back and change things, not so much because I've done them wrong, but more due to new plotlines requiring a change in circumstance. For instance, a son had to become a brother when the status of his father/brother changed to accomodate a new piece of information. Otherwise the only issues I've had include forgetting about characters to the point where they irritatingly fade away to the point where deletion is for their own good.

The best way to evade these problems is to make enough notes to drown a badger. I have a word document with 20,000 words worth of notes, for two books alone. If you keep making notes, you will always have something to refer back to.

[e.Blackstar]

Oh man. I once did a story and I worked furiosly on it, day and night, and then my dad read it and asked some totally obvious question...I had left out the driving focus from the beginning of the story! I don't even rememeber what it was now, but it had begun as a big deal and that thread was never actually resolved!

I've also written chapters and chapters about one subplot or other and totally forgotten some other character. like in this one storything, the main chaacter had a pet lizard named Demitri, but after I introduced him I would forget about him entirely...mention that she took him with someplace, but then not put him in the actual scene...I got so mad at myself. sheesh... :p

[HLGStrider]

My recent thing is having to go back and delete siblings. It always seemed weird to me how many heroes and heroines are only children when I know very few families with just one child, so I always give my heroes sisters and brothers (not always, but almost always), but in the end I always have to delete them because they are just excess trouble and rarely help the story along at all. . .which is probably why so many heroes and heroines are only children in the first place.

[Wraithguard]

I first thought the thread was titled: The Devil in the Belfry. Poe aside, I do many stupid things along those lines CONSTANTLY! From minor things such as leaving out words such as "Truth" in "...leaving her naked exposed." To my ever popular tense changes and plot shifts. I'm no expert writer I just do it for the enjoyment, but I do have issues I at least want to work out for future work. In my opinion it's often best to leave the Hero(ine)'s family out of the story if you can avoid it. I have shifted protagonists 12 times in one story at an earlier point in my life. Thus I am forced to CAREFULLY reread my work.