Inspiration

Sunday night saw me searching for inspiration. I was worried that I was losing my way with my latest work, and even that I was blowing it a bit. Not sure where the feeling of panic was coming from, but it was there.
I looked at the scans of my handwritten stuff - I scan everything, which allows me to have two copies in case I lose the originals.
Suddenly, just by looking at the names of the people in the story, and some of the things they say or do, I found the fear disappearing. I was being inspired by my own work! Amazing!
I saw, too, that the second chapter after the prologue probably could come later. As I already had further chapters typed up, I found I had another version of the beginning to hand, so really I needed to consider which was the more likely version of the beginning. I have to remember that I will not be able to judge the strength of the beginning until I have gone further into the future with it. I love the chapters I've done so far, so no criticism of myself is necessary. It's an evolution, and I have to understand that. Beginnings, middles and ends will appear and then shift around, whatever the level of planning.
Planning is funny - in life, whatever you plan, things change and you have to be ready for this change. Writing must reflect life, no matter what kind of fantasy you place within it, otherwise your readers won't be able to associate with it. So I can't advocate planning as the way to write, if it doesn't also reflect change, or unexpected change. It must also reflect fluidity. If you can see the joins, that you are writing by numbers, then it will show. That's my main concern: I'm not a natural planner, so I'm mixing and matching. It's all part of the evolution of the story. The people in it are all different, and they each have their own ticker going. Like they should be. Just reading them again kickstarted my head into action. That's gotta be a good thing.