I've written the whole damn thing and then gone "oh no, that's not it" and started again.

Completed a first draft -- ninety some odd pages...

Then turned around and with one fell swoop of an index finger deleted forty pages.

Stewed on it for a few days and the intended drama became a rom/com.

Go figure.

Adaddinsane and Courtney: I'm reminded of that classic story about how "Good Will Hunting" started out as a spy thriller. From Wikipedia:

"Ben Affleck and Matt Damon originally wrote the screenplay as a thriller: Young man in the rough-and-tumble streets of South Boston, who possesses a superior intelligence, is targeted by the FBI to become a G-Man. Castle Rock Entertainment president Rob Reiner later urged them to drop the thriller aspect of the story and to focus the relationship between Will Hunting (Damon) and his psychologist (Williams)."

I've read that it wasn't until Shyamalan's 5th draft of "The Sixth Sense" he came to the realization: "My protagonist is dead" [i.e., a ghost].

A story requires what it needs. All the more reason for us to trust the process.

And that's what makes this maddening endeavor so fruitful...

Trusting the process.