This week I ran into a happy accident of my own while writing my current story. Weeks ago, when I had just started on my current novel, I was writing Chapter One (because I was at the beginning, of course). I had a couple of random characters in that chapter whose only purpose was to allow the protagonist to have a conversation with someone of no significance. Having conversations with someone who doesn't matter is what this particular character does, and he does it frequently.
Well, this week I was working on Chapter Twenty-Four. I'm basically halfway though this first draft. And suddenly the characters from the first chapter made a reappearance. They became useful in a way I'd never anticipated. I'd certainly never planned on ever using them again. But they just fit the situation and I didn't have to do much to establish them as characters because they had already been introduced. Okay, so I have to go back and tweek Chapter One just a little (by about ten words). No problem.
The point is that happy accidents result in some of the best parts of a book. No matter how much we plan out a story, it will inevitably surprise us. And this is the best part of writing a novel.
