Yuffie's Writing How-To's

On ORIGINAL VISIONS for your story

I heard that J.K. Rowling recently expressed her regret at Hermione being romantically involved with Ron, because Harry and Hermione was a "better match". And then I saw people CRITICIZING her for saying that before they'd even read the entire interview (which you can read here! http://www.mugglenet.com/jkrint-wonderland-020714.shtml also linked to in the EXTERNAL LINK).

*shakes head and grumbles*

1. I think Rowling was horribly misinterpreted during the interview because those lines about Harry and Hermione being together were taken out of context of the full interview.

2. For the sake of this how-to, I'm actually going to take those lines out of context, analyzing the way the enranged fandom responded to it, and comment on a few important points that may help you improve your own writing and write a better story.

Let's begin! So the critics of that interview bashed Rowling for (apparently) saying that she thought that Harry should've ended up with Hermione.

Let me set the record straight. Having retrospective regrets about your characters and events is part of being a writer. I absolutely don't blame Rowling for wanting Harry to be with Hermione. I don't see how it's "wrong" of her to have a slightly different vision of her own characters after the fact. In fact, I applaud her for speaking honestly about her work like this. It shows she saw her mistake, admitted to it, and will make sure she doesn't make the same mistake in future works.

Hell, I did the exact same thing in my novel VENGEANCE. My original vision was for Takara to be with Ianni, but the characters got a mind of their own, and even though I did force Taka and Ia to have their romantic moment, the fact remains that the better match is with Ianni's best friend, Khai. I always say if there's a romance, it should happen between the characters that change each other the most, that make the other completely question their beliefs. They become better people because of the other. That's Khai and Takara. Honestly, Takara ruined Ianni's life. The moment I made the decision to cut the romance altogether and focus more on building a friendship with hints of something more between Khai and Takara, it was so freeing, like a huge weight was lifted off my chest (if you don't mind me being cliche here).

So that goes into the practical point of this how-to:

Writers shouldn't necessarily cling to their original vision for their story, because as a story and characters evolve, they might just change in ways you hadn't originally anticipated, and that original vision becomes obsolete. Some authors will continue to cling to those obsolete ideas because of "wish fulfillment" as Rowling put it.

Don't tell me you've never had an idea for a scene before starting a novel, but get to that point in the novel and then it doesn't fit. What Rowling is saying she did was still force that scene (or romance in this case) into the story even though it didn't fit anymore. She's warning other writers against doing that, and I think that's very commendable of her, especially because she admitted to doing it herself and expressing her regret.

So
1. Quit hating on Rowling for having opinions about her own made-up story.
2. If a scene you envisioned earlier doesn't fit into the story anymore, don't force it in. Work with the natural flow of the story.