This is where/when I realized that Way Station 417 wasn’t going to be a short story, that it was going to be a novella or a short novel.
Originally, I thought that primarily, the earlier chapters would get longer because I’d need to plant clues. But it turned out, the earlier chapters were already pretty much in alignment what the ending was going to be. So, most of the additional words are being added to the later chapters, the ones in the 60-70% territory.
So, “way past me” and “present me” are somehow more in alignment than “a little bit past me” and “present me” are. See, time isn’t linear. Storytelling definitely isn’t linear.
Although I know some people can and do write “live.” Many web novel writers do this. Whether one thinks web novels are great “literature” or not is irrelevant. (Who cares about the literati’s definitions and opinions anyway.) There is no denying that millions of people enjoy and understand the narratives of web novels, even though there is literally no possibility for these writers to revise episode 1 after they’ve already written and published episode 500. Keeping everything in alignment without needing to go back is an amazing skill.
Anyway, my storytelling isn’t linear, and rely on non-linearity to make things make sense. Having cycled back to the past, I am now about to reach “the present moment” of the story again.