Rewriting Usually Means More Rewriting

I find it near-astonishing that I haven't noticed these until today, despite having written since the age of fifteen. They're basic lessons on rewriting.

One of these lessons is that, when you rewrite or add something, you will almost certainly need to rewrite or add stuff afterwards. The other lesson is that, the bigger the change, the bigger changes you'll need to make onwards. So, if I change a whole sentence, I'll probably have to rewrite most or all of the paragraph, which will probably cause minor changes in other paragraphs. But, if I utterly rewrite or add a paragraph, than I'll need to rewrite even more. Meanwhile deleting usually means less work.

Deleting equaling less work raises another thought: can you imagine having a definitely deletable problem with something you composed, and yet you keep rewriting the thing and everything after it, just because you made it and it is special? I can! (probably because I've actually done this) Sooo many artists fall into this trap. For this we must embrace today's time-saving lesson. Rewriting makes for more rewriting; consider deleting anything that ain't working.

As I think of this lesson, and think about how this is a games blog, I think about how a games designer must accept today's lesson, too, and I realize how much respect we artists deserve for our crafts. Just ponder this games-related example: a games designer realizes that a unit in their RTS game isn't balanced; he or she can't just change the numbers of that unit; they'll have to change probably many other unit's numbers (if not all of them), as a change in another unit will prompt a change in another unit and etc.

The summary of this post is: Bacon-soaked-in-butter fly effect