Novel changes

I've realized the Gilded Age romance novel I've been researching isn't the one I want to write. Somewhere between scribbling plot ideas and a character sketch, my eyes glazed over. Then I kept going back to the one history book at the bookstore that I was dying read. And it was not a history book about the Gilded Age. It was history about my own back door: Port Royal, Jamaica, pirates. It wasn't easy to change my mind about the novel. I tend to hold on to things for too long, before I finally let them go. But I had to let it go. If I was bored before I even started writing, I'd never be able to finish the novel.

So, I started doing research on piracy in the early 18th century. The setting changed everything. My original idea could have taken place in any era: the Gilded Age, now, maybe even 200 years from now. That's why I was bored. One of the reasons why I like historical fiction is because of the differences between the past and the present. Doing historical research for a romance that could take place right now doesn't excite me. The great thing about changing the settings is that everything else changes as well - the tone, the external conflict, even some of the internal conflicts.

All this has taught me why some planning is important. I've never been able to finish a novel because I've never done an outline, or enough research, or character sketches. If I know beforehand that a plot point doesn't make sense, or an entire premise is boring, I can save myself months of writing. Now I just have to make sure that I actually get down to writing the thing.

Have you ever made major changes to your writing? Did the changes help or hurt the final product?