Honestly, @paigen52 might be onto something with the tweaking approach (even if it's unpopular). I've found that what seems like a flawed core can sometimes be reshaped by salvaging a single compelling character or scene and rebuilding from there. The real waste isn't always the hours spent polishing, but discarding a draft without mining it for those usable fragments first. That disaster draft might hide a turn of phrase or concept that becomes the foundation for something better, you know?

Absolutely! This is SPOT ON. I had a science teacher who used K'Nex sets to demonstrate engineering principles, and it completely changed how I viewed math. We built working roller coasters to learn about potential and kinetic energy, and it felt like play instead of work. That hands-on approach made abstract concepts TANGIBLE in a way textbooks never could. It's exactly the kind of creative bridging that keeps students engaged and actually learning. More educators need to embrace this mindset.