With bloom, have there been any story beats that you didn't really plan to put in and just kind of showed up? And maybe the story behind it.
Great question! Probably quite a few things haha but I'll go with like, my top 3.
Oh,, originally in my outline I did NOT plan for that heated first interaction with Glimmer and Catra. Like at all. But arguably because my outline was kind of,, not the best that makes sense. Initially, it was a lot more toned down and more passive aggressive but then my beta thought that I should up the ante and I was like yeah! Why nn? And tbh, it's quite on brand for my fics anyway. Glimmer is almost always hostile to Catra in the stuff I write, it's kind of an accident haha. I just love the dynamic it brings.
Another story beat I hadn't planned for was the grocery scene! I did not originally have this in my outline, but I had a section where I just added random things I wanted to happen eventually and I thought of them bumping into each other at the grocery.
Then when I was planning chapter 6 I wanted another scene in their fall break and I thought that the grocery scene was perfect because Catra and Adora were still at this stage where they were getting closer and didn't know tons about each other, so it was actually a shock seeing each other there. Plus it meant that Diego could meet Adora, which was a great if you ask me.
Another scene I low-key didn't plan to have written in was that flashback scene with Leya and Camilla. In my outline and in Catra's backstory I had wrote about how they were totally definitely a thing, but I didn't have any real plans to write it in. But then when I was writing chapter 7, where I had only wanted to do one flashback, I ended up doing three (because I have no self control) and the last one just so happened to include them. I was kinda unsure if I wanted to use it, but it was just so poignant and heartwrenching that there was no way I couldn't. I also thought it was an interesting introduction for their characters, in like a really mean way. It won't be the last you see if them though, so (: