Changing everything, but keeping it the same

Today's blog is about something that most writers probably experience, particularly when producing a longer piece of work; the need to adjust important details as the story progresses, but without fundamentally changing the story.

I've currently drafted about 80% of my debut novel, A Path of Blades and as I approached the climax (an emotionally-charged duel scene) I realised that for all the necessary character motivations to be consistent, believable and true, I needed to make some minor changes to earlier chapters.

One of these changes was to split one of the facets of the antagonist's character into a separate backup character. This backup character will betray the antagonist at a crucial point in the story which will push him further into the desperation that fuels the climax.

Fortunately/unfortunately (it goes on), I felt that once I'd made that decision I needed to introduce the backup character right at the start, which necessitated a new scene in Chapter One, which needed space made by moving a scene into Chapter Two...

The point I am getting to is that even with all these changes to the nitty-gritty of the novel, the overall story hasn't changed at all. The details hopefully will just help tell the story better, and I like to think that in making the changes I've taken the opportunity to enhance the story and the characters involved.

So even when things change, things also stay the same...