Did you find that the you that started the novel was a different person with different story ideas from the you that ended the novel?
The spine of the thing is the same, and the first few scenes have never changed much, but it's certainly gone through an evolution, much as I have. (For a start, I've gone from a childless thirtysomething to a fortysomething mom, which has had a huge impact on how I view the world.) The main change, though, was the B plot, which never worked and which I finally cracked in January, resulting in the wholesale gutting and complete revising of about 20,000 words. And it didn't even hurt that much, which told me it was the right thing to do.
Re: Congratulations
The spine of the thing is the same, and the first few scenes have never changed much, but it's certainly gone through an evolution, much as I have. (For a start, I've gone from a childless thirtysomething to a fortysomething mom, which has had a huge impact on how I view the world.) The main change, though, was the B plot, which never worked and which I finally cracked in January, resulting in the wholesale gutting and complete revising of about 20,000 words. And it didn't even hurt that much, which told me it was the right thing to do.