After writing three novels, I am still amazed by what drives me to initiate a new novel and complete it. I tend to think that writing a novel is like completing a puzzle except that the puzzle constantly evolves as writing proceeds. In other words, a completed novel is one of many novels that could have resulted from proceeding differently at each critical turn of writing that novel. As such, one would never know if pursuing other directions along the way could lead to a more interesting novel unless each of those turns is tried out. Suffices to say that this would be a formidable undertaking! I am aware of fan fiction, and people modifying and extending the plots of well-known novels. However, I think that writing a novel from scratch is never the same as modifying something that exists.
What do you think?