An Exercise in Memory

I lost the outline to my entire story ...

Over the past week, I've been working closely with fellow writer, Aspen Mars, on the zombie apocalypse shared-world anthology we're collaborating on together. We've actually started writing out first stories for it, and we couldn't be more excited 😁

Unfortunately, I hit a bit of a snag ...

The story I wanted to write was based on an idea I'd had last year - one I'd been really excited about but hadn't had the chance to write yet. I tried to piece the outline back together from memory and managed to recall the opening scene and some vague notes about the ending.

But, everything in between was completely gone 😭

I rummaged through all of my notes - both digital and physical - but couldn't find a trace of it. I couldn't even find the conversations I'd had with another writer who had helped brainstorm it at the time. 

At first, I panicked. Then, I got frustrated (mostly at myself for not storing it somewhere sensible). After that came a wave of sadness as I realised I'd have to figure it all out again. 

And then ... I accepted it (after sulking for the rest of the night first, of course 😂)

The next day, I grabbed a notebook and started brainstorming from scratch. 

Two days later, I had a complete outline again 🥳

And, honestly? I think it might be even better thant he original - even though it still hold onto a lot of the same core elements. I can't wait to write it!

This experience made me realise something: sometimes, being forced to start again - to look at something with fresh eyes and a different mindset - can help it grow into something stronger.

I think this is true not just in writing and editing, but in life too. 

So, here's something to think about:

If you had to start something over from scratch - your story, a project, even a part of your life - what would you do differently? And could/would that make it better? 

Let me know below 🙂

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