Inspiring, and encouraging. I had a rough experience with my first feature screenplay, a WWII drama, a few years back. Basically, I was being too ambitious, although, it only made me rise to the occasion and meet it head on. That I did. I remember writing a 205 page first draft to then realise I was more fond of the main character's best friend than the main character, who upstaged him, held him back, and featured in 80% of the journey. So the best friend had to go, as well as the 80% or so of the draft. After that it freed the story and main character, and was really going somewhere. But again, another serious character/concept problem hit, and I had to lose all the second draft to re-plot and start afresh in the third. Here - I found my true premise and story concept for the project. It featured the same main character, group function and premise but had an added oppositional factor which brought tremendous conflict to the story early on and throughout. That taught me to never make things easy for a main character. To pile on the conflict, and from all sides. I should have worked all this out before writing but you live and learn. It was an incredible experience and one that shapes you as a writer and helps improve your understanding and skill for next time. I mention in a recent blog post of mine, What Your First Draft Needs, that this exploration and scrapping of material is necessary in order to be directed to what you do want, and what works. Sometimes it takes longer than the average to discover. Especially for newcomers. However, if a project was easy then I would question whether it was any good and worth writing in the first place. There is only so much planning you can do for a journey but once out on the road there is always going to be an unplanned surprise or too. The trick is not to fear it but to embrace it. Cheers!