Well at the *very* start PLTTFUTV evolved from another story i'd plotted out a few years back called MACHINE and as I started to figure it out I wanted to rework it with some of my more recent interests and ideas. By the time the plot was in place there was almost nothing of the original MACHINE story left, plus about 35K into PLTTFUTV I ended up merging two characters into one. The story didn't really change *too* much as i wrote it but as it grew nearer to the end of the piece I kind of simultaneously relaxed my grip a little but also tightened it up too. I knew where I was going but was willing to let things change if, as I was writing it, something else made more sense. I also didn't know until i wrote the scene who was going to survive and who wasn't.

The thing is that with short stories I often have an idea, a few scenes and maybe an ending, and just sit down to write them, trusting enough in my own abilities to know that I can pull something out of them. With something of n*vel length, however, I felt as if i owed it to the story to have more control so I treated it like a painting almost. I sketched out the entire canvass roughly, some bits rougher than others, some gaps here and there, and then systematically worked through the piece, adding in more and more detail. Since there were several story threads i could also switch between them if i became more interested in one or stuck on one, then just come back to it later and tie it all up.