I wrote THORN JACK years ago and I've been asked what the original story was when I penned it at seventeen. It was very '80s. So here are the most changed bits . . .
The first setting was in Los Angeles. I don't know why. At the time it sounded exotic. I had a thing for deserts and Francesca Lia Block's LA-set magic realism.
Finn, the heroine, was Maude Clare, a ballet student.
Jack was still an assassin and slave of the faery folk, but his name was Kevin.
Christie evovlved from two characters; Johnny, who had a blonde mohawk and was in a rock band; and Christopher, Maude's golden boyfriend, who was an actor.
Sylvie was pretty much the same, only her name was Maggie and she worked at an antique shop.
The Villain. There was no Reiko. The antagonist was the faery king, Seth Lot, elegant and cruel. (He became Seth Lot, the Wolf king, the villain in Briar Queen, Thorn Jack's sequel).
Anna Weaver, the autistic girl who is also an oracle, was a runaway boy named Nathan (who became Nathan Clare), who was also autistic, and a changeling.
There was no Fata family, just urban faeries who were dangerous and seductive.
Stories don't have to be set in stone. Even when I've given up on a manuscript, I've saved it, knowing I might scavenge it at another time, or it might undergo a metamorphosis and become something else.
For more about story and such, here are some links to my favorite websites by authors:
http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/
http://www.francescaliablock.com/blog
http://jenniferweiner.blogspot.com/
http://windling.typepad.com/blog/
how i write | Maggie Stiefvater
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