The Plan for Sansa/Alayne: Outlines & Abandoned Plotlines (Spoilers Extended)

Background

In this post I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what GRRM's plan was with Sansa from the abandoned 5 year gap to its current form.

Original Plan

While not one of the "5 Central Characters", Sansa is mentioned early and often in the original outline. She actually came about as a character because the Stark family was getting along too well:

Arya was one of the first characters created. Sansa came about as a total opposite b/c too many of the Stark family members were getting along and familes aren't like that. Thus, Sansa was created; he ended by saying they have deep issues to work out. -SSM, Kepler & Cody Signings: 9 Nov 2000

and it seemed that GRRM gardened Sansa telling Cersei about Ned's plans out of this rough plan:

Each of the contending families will learn it has a member of dubious loyalty in its midst. Sansa Stark, wed to Joffrey Baratheon, will bear him a son, the heir to the throne, and when the crunch comes she will choose her husband and child over her parents and siblings, a choice she will later bitterly rue. Tyrion Lannister, meanwhile, will befriend both Sansa and her sister Arya, while growing more and more disenchanted with his own family.

If interested: Changes to GRRM's Original Outline

The 5 Year Gap

With Sansa recently arriving in the Vale (after the Purple Wedding and a stop at LF's Keep), GRRM ended her ASOS story arc with Lysa's death:

Littlefinger let Lysa sob against his chest for a moment, then put his hands on her arms and kissed her lightly. “My sweet silly jealous wife,” he said, chuckling. “I’ve only loved one woman, I promise you.”
Lysa Arryn smiled tremulously. “Only one? Oh, Petyr, do you swear it? Only one?”
“Only Cat.” He gave her a short, sharp shove.
Lysa stumbled backward, her feet slipping on the wet marble. And then she was gone. She never screamed. For the longest time there was no sound but the wind.
Marillion gasped, “You … you …”
The guards were shouting outside the door, pounding with the butts of their heavy spears. Lord Petyr pulled Sansa to her feet. “You’re not hurt?” When she shook her head, he said, “Run let my guards in, then. Quick now, there’s no time to lose. This singer’s killed my lady wife.” -ASOS, Sansa VII

and like the other children she would have spent the gap growing/maturing (for her specifically it would have been likely court politics, etc.)

If interested: A Quick Look at the End of ASOS and the Setup for the 5 Year Gap

AFFC/ADWD

Back in October 2003 we know that GRRM finished AFFC, Alayne II (Sansa's 3rd and final chapter in AFFC and published chapter at that):

Yesterday I finished another chapter, the thirty-second (though I do move these chapters around from time to time, so it probably won't be the thirty-second when FEAST is finally published). It's an Alayne chapter, and with it in place, I now have 738 manuscript pages in something very close to final draft form. I also have four or five additional chapters, roughly another 100 pages, that are close to completion, and then maybe another 100 to 200 pages of fragmentary chapters, scenes, lines, and notes, some of which will wind up in FEAST, some of which may be pushed into the next volume, of some of which will likely be scrapped. So that's where I am right now. -SSM, Yes I'm Still Working: 23 October 2003

but he seemingly planned one more (likely TWOW, Alayne I) as we can see from the June 2004 chapter structure, he had a partially written 4th Sansa chapter that he wasn't sure where he wanted to place:

I am getting a lot done. Finished an Arya chapter yesterday, and a Sansa chapter the day before (And before you guys assume I'm writing a chapter a day, I said "finished," not "wrote." Large portions of these particular chapters were written years ago.  -SSM: Home Alone: 23 May 2008

and:

Unfortunately, I did not make much progress on the book in the second half of 2008. Indeed, I made some regress. (That Sansa chapter I talked about finishing, for instance. It's still finished, but my editor and I decided it belongs in THE WINDS OF WINTER, not A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, so it's been moved into the next book. Sansa will not appear in DANCE.) -SSM, A Dance with Dragons: 19 Feb 2009

and:

There are also 2 Cersei chapters currently in Dance and a Sansa chapter. (ETA. Correction. The Sansa chapter is done, but is most likely in Winds, not in Dance.) But he also said that the above might change in final editing. -Valleycon (May 2009)

and also worth noting there was some confusion it seems over the number of POVs was cleared up when Sansa/Alayne was being counted as 2 separate POVs:

[Note: The following report explains the discrepancy in the total number of POVs, which GRRM has given as 19. 9 characters are carried over from ASoS and 8 new POVs have been announced so far. It appears that Sansa's chapters count as two POVs.] Alayne is that missing POV. -SSM, Boskone: 18 Feb 2005

• The 2003-2004 Outline

From the 2003-2004 Outline we know the following was planned (at one point at least) for Sansa:

Sansa: Divide Chapter, Cersei has overreached, She'll soon be done

and then:

Sansa (4)

? Old - Resolve to be Sansa +Take North

1. • Tourney of Winged Knight
     2. - Sweetrobin Woos/Weds
     3. - News from W. H. (assuming White Harbor)
     Kill the Mouse

this would have had Sansa having 6 chapters in AFFC (the 3 already written and then the #'d 3 above) before he changed it to 4.

If interested: What Can We Learn From The Vale Portion of GRRM's 2003-2004 Outline?

TWOW/Going Forward

Currently we have one unpublished Alayne chapter that was originally meant for AFFC (likely the 4th chapter mentioned above) for TWoW available to us and Sansa's plotline is sadly still at about the same point it was when GRRM made the outline.

TWOW, Alayne was uploaded to GRRM's website around 2 April 2015.

What can we expect to see beyond TWOW, Alayne I?

Some possibilities:

• Ser Shadrich (the Mad Mouse) attempting to kidnap Sansa for Varys but dying in the attempt but potentially being the catalyst that reveals Sansa to the Vale (at least to those who don't know her identity)
• Events at the Tourney of the Brotherhood of the Winged Knights potentially paralleling the events at the Tourney at Harrenhal
• Harry the Heir having some drama with whoever ends up with Sansa's favor
• Lynn Corbray being a wildcard
• The Vale Mountain Clans (armed with steel) potentially encountering her as she leaves the Vale (she will likely have the Vale knights with her)
• Sansa's plotline could head in so many different directions once the Vale arc is over, but LF's intentions with her are different than the show:

GRRM: My Littlefinger would have never turned Sansa over to Ramsay. Never. He’s obsessed with her. Half the time he thinks she’s the daughter he never had—that he wishes he had, if he’d married Catelyn. And half the time he thinks she is Catelyn, and he wants her for himself. He’s not going to give her to somebody who would do bad things to her. That’s going to be very different in the books -Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon

• Sansa running into Sandor Clegane again (UnKiss, etc.)

Well, not every inconsistency is a mistake, actually. Some are quite intentional. File this one under "unreliable narrator" and feel free to ponder its meaning. . .-SSM, Sansa's Memory: 2002

and:

Q: Will Sandor and Sansa meet again in the future?
GRRM: Why, the Hound is dead, and Sansa may be dead as well.  There's only Alayne Stone. -SSM, FUTURE MEETINGS, POVS, ARYA’S ROLE, EASTERN LANDS, AND ASSASSINS: 2008

If interested: A Northern Girl: The Culmination of a Riverland Plotline

TLDR: Just a "quick" post summarizing some of GRRM's early intentions with Sansa (while not one of his "5 central characters" she seemed to have a big part to play in this generational saga that he created), as well as the numerous gardening changes he has made along the way to the current point (and beyond).