Xela

But THAT brought a new set of headaches. Suddenly, I was inventing a logical time travel method, an Evol extraction procedure, and a new way to fight with Evols in battles (Evol is like a superpower). I died a couple times. I was determined to make it scientifically believable because the present day lore is rooted in science.

I also had to change it from 2nd person POV to 3rd. Turns out there is a reason why most published novels are either in 1st or 3rd *sarcasm*. Keeping the main character vague is too hard for a plot-driven story. I needed to know her likes and dislikes, her fears and flaws. I managed to keep the MC nameless and her physical attributes vague though.

Taking all of that into account, I realised that the story wouldn't be going anywhere if I didn't have a proper plot planned out. It wasn't planned chapter by chapter—I've done that before and it just made me lose interest in the story, but I did have a macro-level outline for the story beats that changed as I wrote. I also had a detailed list of events that I wanted to happen in each timeline. Then I picked which events to write, making sure the pacing varied so it wasn't too rushed or slow, and ended the chapter when it felt right, which was usually on a cliffhanger. That was fun.

Also, time travel is annoying in that a small change in one timeline will affect the subsequent timelines. It's a good thing I love planning and keeping track of things because my excel sheet is DETAILED. I generally work better when things are structured and organised.

For each chapter, there's a column for plot breakdown, location, age, time, MC's emotional state, foreshadowing, sci-fi elements, word count, and Friends episode summary. My rule of thumb is if the chapter can't be summarised into an interesting one liner a la Friends' episode names, then it's not good enough. Ex: "the one where MC has breakfast with her previously dead family", "the one where Caleb finds out". I wanted to avoid boring filler chapters since it'd be updated weekly, so it had to be engaging for the readers.

The full story went through multiple drafts and revisions before I started posting, otherwise it'd stress me out if I had to post as I wrote. I have Very Big Feelings about updating consistently and ensuring I've done my absolute best before sharing it to the world. It was for the best too since first drafts generally suck and so was mine. Some chapters are drastically different now, and I love them more.

That being said, I was in the middle of polishing the last few chapters when I started posting. By that point, the fundamental plot has been set in stone, so I knew nothing would change much. I needed to let this monstrosity out of the cage.

Wow, this got long. Thank you for asking Faye! I feel lighter now that I don't have to write from this MC's POV all the time. Hope you're well too💛

I haven't reread it again, honestly. It was tiring to be in MC's dark, depressing headspace for 7 months, so I wanted to get away from it as much as I could. Maybe months later, there'd be things I want to retcon. Maybe not. I've adopted the mindset of "if there's anything I want to fix, I'll do it better in my next fic". I can't be stuck in one place forever. Perfectionism is a curse.