What's the smallest thing that could change your entire storyline?

The Sister vehemently insists on travelling with the Hero instead of letting him leave her behind in the village. Still deliberating whether this will change the trajectory of the story, then again, the choice is up to me.

If my MC hadn’t been caught by his sister while hesitating to flee his arranged marriage, he could have lived a far more carefree life with his first love and their children. But that also doomed his father scheme in the worst case scenario as his rival can secured this good marriage as his spouse is a naive regent of a large duchy.

Anemic_Vampire said:

I can't believe that the ducky is making one sensible writing thread after another. I thought you were a troublemaker like me, but you're actually a good duck.

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I can't always be a little shit.

Varies by story but...

Dane Coleman gets a job to support his mother and sister instead of joining the Marines. Never develops he skills needed, and either the Resistance selects someone else to stop the bad guy or he just wins eventually (Digital Cowboy Dane on Pocket FM)

Kelly Pierce decided he wants to be the one who lives, instead of the unknown woman in another universe. An entire world is lost eventually, maybe more (Strange Awakening).

David West decides not to overspend at OmegaCon, gets a cab ride home, and never meets Thellissandra, remaining in the dark about his own heritage, probably remaining single and never giving birth to the children that will potentially save all of reality (Between Earth and Pyrroth on Pocket FM).

Jack Diamond follows orders, Carol is sacrificed, Morgalis summons Tennigrath Lord of the Void, and the world's extranormals (superheroes) are forced into an epic confrontation that many fail to survive. A major city is likely devastated as a result, with massive loss of lives. Jack survives, but dies of cirrhosis of the liver from excessive drinking, before lung cancer would get its shot at him (Diamond in the Rough, Blood Diamond).

Indigo picks a different person's life to step into after their death instead of a future cop - could go either way for him, nothing changes for the world overall, but his child's life may be very different. His life won't be any better, but it might be longer (True Blue).

Nicholas Sato decides to stay with his school group instead of exploring the mysterious staircase he accidentally discovers. He dies in the kaiju attack on the factory, the M-78 is buried in rubble and never rediscovered, so the Exerians conquer the Earth and continue their swathe of conquest across the universe until a new challenger appears somewhere (The Kaiju System on HoneyFeed).

The smallest thing in my story is a simple phonecall in episode 3. David Williams, the father of the MC, Michelle, calls Trella. Trella suggests to tell Michelle the truth. If this wouldn´t happen, Michelle would never find out what Trella and her friends really are, they would never become friends , their mission would fail and a lot of things would go sideways for pretty much everyone

Black Fang

A group of girls from the world of shadows, with past darker that the darkest night, are trying to live a normal life. But their past will catch up with them soon enough and they must once again fight, but this time not just for survival. Michelle, a young high...

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If the paladin didn't exist, my MC would have always been a slave.

I-I don't fully understand this poll x)

But in short; if the male MC didn't rescue a stray cat, it would completely change the story.

I think my world has nothing like a small event. Everything had been planned since hundred of years ago and it was inevitable.

If the villain did not give Casimir his "birthright" in the most invasive way possible, one person would have been radicalized, more lives would have been ruined and the mc would have been more screwed in the future.

If my character didn’t wear a stupid magnet his grandmother gave him the entire foundation of my story wouldn’t exist lol

If my MC didn't experience west feild tragedy, then he'd be only a plain guard for the government while the world slowly decays as magical, primordial and other realm threats continue to destroy the already low human population into extinction. Also the 4th prince of darkness would be destroy what's left.

Conqueror_Quack said:

What's the smallest thing in your story that, if removed or altered, could change your novel's entire plot? Will the entire world in your story be doomed, or will it remain the same as in the original plot? Will the protagonist be happier if that small thing is changed? For example, in the anime AoT, the entire world almost got destroyed because of the events that led from a girl releasing a pig from a farm.

You can go wild advertising your story by linking it here just make sure that you talk about atleast most of the questions or in general.

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If the protagonist was not born with asthma, then he would probably live a better life. However at that point is it even the same person/character if such a fundamental thing is changed. If they are significantly different there is a chance for the world to go through a period of crisis. If I go smaller and say that he prefers purses, backpacks, and/or phanny packs to coats with a lot of pockets then the only thing that changes is his sense of fashion. If I go to the thing haunting the story, and give it a heart seed then perhaps the current conflict would never have started.

If my MC didn't run through a specific random path through a labyrinth in a dream, the multiverse would eventually be consumed by an eldritch monstrosity. And then all the multiverse's alternate timelines would also get consumed by their own versions of said monstrosity.

One extremely small but important event in the story I'm working on is in the first chapter where the protagonist hears part of a name on TV. It's glossed over because the readers are supposed to think it's unimportant (the protagonist sure does). If she didn't hear it, she would've been dead at the end of chapter 6.

Hmm. For my zombie diary story, if my MC was a sane, well adjusted individual, my story would be a lot more... boring.

As an eccentric retard myself, I can confirm being normal isn't as interesting as someone that looks up at the sky and thinks of the clouds as fluffy human tendons, and asserts they don't need to drink water because meat is moist.

The smallest thing? Good question. I gained inspiration to write my novel The Shape of Kindness from a minute encounter with a stranger. A Gurkha soldier. He smiled at me as he walked by and I gave him a shy smile in return. Then he walked a few yards but turned back one last time with the smile still on before he disappeared in the crowd. He became the protagonist of my story. The encounter did not change the story line, it gave birth to it.

In one story, my MC happens to meet and start going out with another (ends up being major) character. Couple stories later, they realize it. If that hadn't have happened the "big thing" (whole story, lol) wouldn't have gotten solved. A lot had to come together, ranging from idea(s) to brilliant strategies, persistence, hard work, and even a little luck.

but it set up a chain of events. Another even bigger thing came out of it all, other things too. This chain of events with each thing getting bigger and more important, none of it happens without that chance meeting and hitting it off.

They decide the universe (whatever that even is) wanted it all to happen, and knew what it was doing.

sometimes you walk into the wrong door on accident at the big office building.
usually nothing comes of it.
but it *could" be catastrophic.
it also could be amazing.
you never know.

In the "Peanut" chapter, Ingrid's team opens up a "stasis chest" and releases Peanut, a mushroom-folk who was sealed away by her former teammates before they team got overrun by monsters.
Ingrid could have chosen to have the team retreat back to the surface rather than continuing on and finding the Dead Eaters' (Neanderthal-like humanoids) Nest.
This means that Ingrid and co. would have missed out on obtaining several new familiars because they would have been butchered and eaten by said monsters.