What do you do with scrapped storylines?

[powerplantanimations]

So here's some fun lore: Dream Goddess Chronicles started off as a spin-off for a comic called "The Red Giant". PANDA WHITE back in like... 2018 was like "Oooh I love the dream idea" and that persisted to the point where it eventually became reality (and our top priority)... whereas the Red Giant stuff lived on in weirder ways.

For example, Quincy, the protagonist of the Red Giant became a character in That Stick Figure Isekai. The idea was to introduce him through this comic to get people interested in a Red Giant comic.

But then around that time the Dream Goddess stuff went ahead full steam and AGAIN, became our top priority. We have a ton of lore just... lying around now and the cool thing is we treat it like a mythology that these entities are aware of.

Like Book of Enoch shit where they refer to all of our old drafts and are like "Yeah but those are rumors". Or it DID happen but not the way you think. It compliments the world building of Dream Goddess and makes the universe feel more like... lived in. We plan on coordinating which planet believes what myths in the future.

How bout you guys? :0

Read Dream Goddess Chronicles | Tapas Web Community

[VibrantFox]

i've found that a lot of plot lines that i wont be able to follow in the main stories end up going to what i've dubbed "the lore bible" and it's also how i wound up with most of my stories taking place in a shared universe or straight up the same planet just at different points of it's overall timeline

like i know a lot of people whose mindset is "just throw it out if it doesnt serve the story" but i kinda like sitting on those ideas and saving them for later because even if it doesnt pop into relevance in the moment it may come up later or evolve into it's own thing. i think i even had an instance where what was meant to be a sort of throwaway character accidentally became really important to the plot so now it's just been watching where they go

granted i dont save every little abandoned idea and there's lots thats landed on the cutting room floor but doesnt mean i dont take a peek at the scraps now n then either xD

[powerplantanimations]

The shared universe thing is so fucking useful. It's also fun to figure out weird ways for each to connect also which adds to the cosmology.

[BoomerZ]

I just cancelled my book as it wasn't getting a following. Most of the ideas for future episodes will go back into the hopper to be re-imagined to fit with a new story in the future. I have scenes I want to do and don't want to lose them so I just save them for later.

[VibrantFox]

i think my favorite part is that it wasnt even meant to be a shared universe but at some point i started connecting the dots and was like "OH THEY GO TOGETHER?!?!"

one detail i wont hit too much on that was my favorite refitted scrap idea was how life and death works in the world building so now i get to hint at au's maybe not just being au's but something else it's super fun~

[kyupol]

Scrapped storylines don't really get thrown away. They just sit in the background and treated as if they already happened.

I have had multiple storylines and my comics only are a drop in the bucket. The whole "universe" is as epic as Naruto. It's been floating around since the geocities days of 2000-2001.

There's a parallel dimension... And there's parallel storylines running on the same timeline but just a different location the camera is pointed.

Then there's storylines I dreamed up when we were made to write stories in school... Just had to somehow incorporate that in the same universe.

Read AngHell Dela Blackpill | Tapas Web Community

[krazycafetales262]

I hang onto to them. Ideas and characters may not work for one story but I can always reuse them later. Often helps me fill out new ideas when they pop into my head.

Read The Thieving Game | Tapas Web Community

[ArtGremlin]

The only time that’s coming to mind when I scrapped a storyline is when I had the realization that it was mischaracterizing one of the main characters. Like no, this woman is not going to decide that burning down this vampire’s tent is the best course of action. She would want to help him. What was I thinking???
So, I mean that part of the story is still there, but I just changed it entirely. Although I had to sacrifice the arson plot line, at least I got more emotional tension in return and because of this change my brain also auto generated a silly AU where the other mc becomes a vampire so the two of them can be immortal together. Then she leaves him and he’s angsty lol 🥀 So it all worked out.

[skullforceagents]

I keep them in the back of my mind. Sometimes characters and stories can be recycled.

[Rai_Muffin]

Coincidentally I was just watching a video on this topic.
The original premise for the 60s TV show Fireball XL-5 featured a kid named Joe, who dreamt about his persona Joe 90 flying around space in a ship called the SPV.

The final show was a straight up space adventure with no resemblance to the kids imagination plot,
but the name Joe 90 was reused for its own show about a kid secret agent, and the acronym SPV was recycled into a vehicle in another show, Captain Scarlet.

Even if a story idea falls out of favor, the ideas can in be used in other stories down the line.

[Leyelle]

Sometimes i rework them or include parts of them into other stories

[simplykit]

Nice! Your story looks good, buddy! I’ve got some stories lying around—forgotten, hidden in books and on shelves.
Once in a while, I read them and get ideas to add to my new story. I take characters, places, and plots, enhance them, and create a better version that I then add to the story I’m working on

[Hugerat]

Have to agree with what most people here are saying- I rarely fully scrap a storyline, anything I don't end up using gets recycled or re-worked to use down the line.

[justanothernerdling]

I have a collection of extra chapters for those who enjoy the main story! It's a separate link!