It's interesting that you say the development in your story might have been related to your own personal growth, Zymologist, since that's often happened to me when I'm writing. (Or, rather, developing a story idea, since I don't do much actual writing nowadays.
) I'll be turning over an idea in my head, adding bits and pieces, and then I'll suddenly notice that themes are coming out - completely unintentionally - that are tied to things I've been working through in my spiritual life. Recently, for instance, a lot of my story ideas have had to do with submission and its connections to Biblical gender roles, something I've been pondering lately. And I've often found myself thinking of quotes from a novella I wrote many months back, not because they're great quotes, but because some of the ideas in that novella have turned out to be fairly significant for me spiritually.This is one of the reasons I want to keep writing. Even if what I produce isn't that good, going through the process of writing is very intellectually and spiritually stimulating for me. It's worth it just for the experience of having to think through ideas and express them decently.
(Of course, this depends on what I'm writing. A silly one-off bit of fanfiction generally doesn't have much effect on my spiritual life.)
