It’s funny as a writer when you look back at when you first start a story and how it’s gone a different route than you were expecting.

Take one I am working on right now. It was the first novel I ever actually started writing. I’ve always wanted to be an author, always dabbled here and there with different story ideas, but at the age of 16, this one actually stuck.

The original story was going to be sappy, cliché, your typical young adult contemporary that would be considered a light, guilty pleasure read, nothing groundbreaking.

Now here I am, 21, already finished with a different novel and making great headway with a second, and this idea decides to appear once again, only it has taken a new turn.

The characters for the most part are the same, with the exception of two characters whose names have been changed. The setting is the same, the situations are more or less the same. But it’s a totally different story, a totally different angle. Because what I thought was important (in life and in a novel) are not the same now as they were 5 years ago.

It’s been fun to revisit this old idea, picking out what scenes to carry over and which to say good-bye to. And although some of the descriptions and dialogue are really cringy to read, it’s a reminder of how far I’ve come with my writing.

Remember to look back at your old works. Who knows? They might have just needed a little more time to think about where they were going.