My character arc fell apart because I forgot the small town's main export

Was writing a scene set in a fictional mining town in Colorado. Had this whole emotional beat where my main character gives a big speech about the town's economy. Then my buddy who actually lives in a small Colorado town asked what they mine. I froze. Total blank. The whole speech relied on knowing that one detail. Had to rewrite the scene from scratch. Anyone else ever build a whole plot point around a detail you forgot to research?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_alice1d ago

Oh man, "forgot the small town's main export" hits way too close to home. I once wrote a whole subplot about a character smuggling rare birds, then realized halfway through I had no idea what kind of birds actually lived in that region. Had to scrap three chapters and pretend the character had a sudden change of heart. It's brutal when you build the whole house on a missing foundation.

emma_wells8321h ago

Wait, you had to scrap THREE CHAPTERS because of birds? That's wild. I would have just looked up what birds are in Colorado real quick and pretended that's what I meant all along. No one would know the difference, right? Like who's really fact-checking the local bird population in a novel, except maybe some ornithologist who would probably appreciate the shoutout.

singh.harper1d ago

You know what nobody's mentioned yet? The real story opportunity here is leaning into the contradiction. Small towns in Colorado are often struggling with the exact thing that made them boom in the first place. Maybe the town's mine shut down ten years ago and now they're trying to rebrand as a tourist trap or a weed tourism hub. Your character could be giving this big heartfelt speech about copper mining or whatever, but a local kid interrupts and says "dude, that mine closed in 2012, my dad works at the vape shop now." That's comedy gold and emotional weight at the same time.