There’s one thing all the stories we write and tell have in common.
They evolve.
Every story starts in one place, maybe with the first telling. And then we keep telling it, or someone else tells it, and it picks up a few more details, it deepens, or it gets heightened.
If a story gets tested in front of audiences, these changes improve it, and it satisfies audiences more and more.
Stories change with every draft. If we get good notes and implement them well, our stories can keep getting better.
Stories that thrive in this process of evolution have good laughs, great emotional hooks, compelling stakes, interesting characters, and satisfying endings.
Have you looked at George Lucas’s various drafts of Star Wars, and how they evolved?
Remember Ready Player One? It was a bestselling book—already an enormously successful story—and then Steven Spielberg made a movie version and the book’s author, Ernest Cline, used the opportunity to allow the story to evolve and improve still more.
When a story is “done,” that’s really just another way of saying “that’s where it is for now.” Every draft—even the final draft—is merely a snapshot of where the story is at that moment.
It can always get better.
Remember this when you’re writing your story.
It’ll work.
Just allow it to evolve.
Thought provoking post. I generally agree, with the caveat that when it comes to publishing or producing what you've written, at some point you need the discipline to say, I like what I've got here, even if it may not be done for all time, at least it's ready.