Writing for Publication, Plot Holes and How They Can Destroy a Story

As an editor, I find nothing more uncomfortable than having to tell a writer about a flaw in a draft that pertains to a plot hole. And often I'll be asked to define this tear in the fabric of a story that makes a section of the narrative unrealistic for what I refer to as a reader's "acceptability quotient."

Plot Holes Can Crop Up Anywhere

The tendency is to assume a plot deficiency occurs only at the end of the story, and while this indeed does happen, it's often easiest to remedy with a denouement. The problem I've found, however, is that the more elements revealed at the end of the story, the weaker the overall plotline. If I'm reading a couple of pages of plot resolution at the very last of a narrative, I generally suggest that the writer go back and work on these elements so they're brought out and resolved within the framework of the text.

Types of Plot Holes

The most obvious plot hole is anything that requires a deus ex machinato save the day. I always hate when an otherwise good story requires a preternatural event to reconcile a plot element. But plot holes are more insidious than purely contrived events. How do characters make it cross country in a day in an automobile? Or heal from horrific wounds in three days? How does a year pass in a story and the only person who is affected by this is the lead character?

Chronology Is a Factor Never to Lose Site of

Time is a big deal, and it contributes to plot problems as much as anything. When a year passes, everyone it the story is impacted by this. What did they do during that year? Quite commonly, even the best writers can't effectively fill long gaps, and it's a reason I suggest writing tight timelines whenever possible, and especially with mysteries and thrillers.

Inconsistency Creates Plot Holes

Readers don't have to know that characters go to the bathroom, eat every meal, answer each phone call, etc., but if a character has a lisp on page 4, it can't have been cured by the middle of the next page. Mary can't be two months pregnant in June and have a baby that has gone full term by August. Tom can't be fired in December, but working for the same firm in April, without an explanation. A boat that's destroyed in a storm can't reappear in the final scene--with the reader told that the craft really wasn't dashed against the rocks as first reported. Shakespeare could get away with it; the rest of us can't.

Not Finishing Threads Can Cause as Many Problems as Anything

It certainly is easy to take a run at one Pulitzer Winner, INDEPENDENCE DAY, by Richard Ford. But my reason for disliking this book has nothing to do with anything I saw on the review sites or the opinions of people I respect who read the book. My reason was because the thread regarding the murdered realtor, which Mr. Price brought up twice, was never tied up for the reader. In my opinion, it was the only true plot element in the entire story, and it was ignored. (If you haven't read the novel, it has no plot, just the idle ramblings of a neurotic malcontent during a three-day Fourth of July holiday. If you like Virginia Woolf, you'll likely enjoy this; if not, you might want to stay away.) As to my point, I don't see how this open thread ever got by the editors at Knopf.

Major Writers Get Away With Plot Holes, the Rest of the World of Writers Can't

Disregarding my reference to THE TEMPEST, in THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE, how is it that a man as meticulous as Der Needle would leave a door unlocked so his landlady could walk in on him while he was on his radio transmitting to the Germans? This occurring when the entire story was a testament to this assassin's extreme caution with everything he did?

Everyone has plenty of examples of the sort of missteps I just mentioned. Established writers are cut a lot of slack for reasons that boggle the mind of any person working hard to try to make it in this business. But a major requirement, like it or not--for anyone striving to attract a mainstream publisher--is to provide work that is devoid of inconsistencies which create holes in the plot.

Robert L. Bacon, Founder
The Perfect Write®

New Free Manuscript Service for Serious Writers! The Perfect Write® is now providing a Free Opening-Chapter Critique and Line Edit. Paste the first chapter of your manuscript (up to 5000 words) to theperfectwrite@aol.com (no attachments). In addition to the critique, The Perfect Write® will line edit, if applicable, up to the first three-pages of your double-spaced material also at no charge.

Also Free! Receive The Perfect Write® Newsletters that feature articles on writing at a publishable level.

By: Robert L. Bacon

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Writer's Block: What It Is and How to Kill It

Here's my tip for the day: Ending Writer's Block

Okay, so you planned your novel and jotted down all these fantastical ideas, but you're completely stuck. Johnny just said, "I love you," and Sally's just sitting there. What do you do? You get to know your characters.

The biggest mistake authors make is emphasizing their plot: whatever you do, DO NOT EMPHASIZE YOUR PLOT!!!! Contrary to popular belief, the plot is NOT the most important part of the story. Truly, it is the least important part of the story. Don't believe me? Let's look at some examples.

Harry Potter. Lovely set of novels - one of the most popular and highly rated in history. But wait; it has a rather worn out plot, doesn't it? If you break it down, Harry Potter is the most basic of all fantasy plots. First of all, you have witches and wizards and dragons - the most popular roads of the fantasy land. Not to mention Rowling chose traditional wizards - ones with wands and word-spells. Then we've got the villain - he wants to take over the world. How classic is that? It's so classic it's a cliche. And then, of course, there is one person in the whole world who can stop him - and that one person happens to be Harry Potter, the big loser who just happens to be an all-powerful wizard.

Again, I say - worn out plot.

HOWEVER, we all love Harry Potter. Why? Because the plot is not the point.

Now let's look at an adult classic: the Anita Blake novels. Vampires and werewolves hate each other, vampires are sexy but evil, weres get hot at the sight of blood and death, supernaturals are creepy, disgusting monsters, yet they are very, very sexy. How totally and completely worn out and stupid does this sound? Very. BUT, all who read Hamiltion's novels are in love with them - including me. Why?

Because the plot is not the point.

You will see this again and again the more you read (and the more you search for it). Very few books have unique plots, even really, really good ones. The reason we love these novels is not because they are ingenious ideas. We love them because they are, first of all, extremely well written and attention-grabbing. They get us excited, they make us cry, they make us angry... But why do they do this?

Because we love the character.

The biggest part of a book is character development. You can have the worst plot in the world, but if you can maker your reader fall in love with your character, you can create a best seller. If you've read my reviews, you know how big I am on character development.

But what is character development?

It's hard to explain. Basically, your characters should react differently to the same situation at the end of the novel than they would at the beginning. But they must react differently for a reason. For example, let's say that at the beginning of our novel Johnny said I love you to Sally and Sally said I love you too. But later in the novel, Sally found out Johnny cheated on her. So when Johnny says I love you at the end of the novel, Sally says I don't love you go away because he cheated on her.

You want to create a believable character with emotions and thoughts; in many, many ways, books are much more intimate than movies. In a movie, you see exactly how the character looks, you hear them speak, see them move, but you don't necessarily understand WHY. Why is the biggest question a reader will ask you, and if you know your character, you should be able to answer. That's the most common cause of writer's block - you have no clue who your character is.

To end this, get out a sheet of paper and write your character's name on it. Then describe your character. Let's look at an example.

Johnny
Johnny is six feet tall with huge muscles and curly brown hair. He has pale blue eyes and a beautiful sculpted jaw. His brow is very defined, but not enough so that he get's eyebrow tanlines. His nose is a little pointy and small, but it looks good on him. He always wears jeans, sneakers, and solid colored T-shirts, usually white or black. He has a tattoo of a sun on the back of his left hand.

There. Now we have a solid idea of what Johnny looks like. But what would Johnny do? Who is Johnny? Now we make a list of random questions about Johnny. These can really be anything you think defines a person: where were they born, do they have any pets, favorite color, favorite food, first kiss, parents still alive, favorite song, hobbies, etc. Don't be afraid to get abstract, either. How will this person die? Who's going to kill them? Will they have children? What was the worst thing that ever happened to them?

Do this for all of your characters. Once you understand what they all like and dislike, you will know how to make them react to one another. For example, let's say Sally just can't think when she looks into pale blue eyes. So, when Johnny wants to get his way, he looks Sally in the eyes because he knows she will become helpless to his gaze. See? It's really that simple.

If you're stuck on starting a scene, don't start there. A book is just like a movie; you don't need to film it in order. Perhaps you've got the perfect ideas and know exactly where to start for chapter three. Okay then, start on chapter three and work on one and two later. You'll probably finish faster if you do it that way, anyway.

Reading also helps. Like, a lot of reading. Let's say you read a great book and there's some fantastic river where a romantic scene takes place. Use it. It's not plagiarizing unless you copy word for word. If you liked the river scene, incorporate one into your own novel. Change the name of the river, make it fall instead of summer. Make the idea your own. Writers do it all the time, and you never know; maybe you'll inspire someone else.

This post was rather long, so I hope you got something from it. Write on, fans, write on!

If this article was helpful to you, check out my website for more ideas. Go to http://www.stuffbysam.com and click on the "Jailbirds Challenge" for this post and others on plot, organization, and publishing.

By: Samantha M Steele

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Four Ways to Tweak Your Novel's Plot and Give It a Different Twist

The overweight character that I was going to use as a protagonist has since become the antagonist. When I first created her, I had mixed feelings about her. After all, this protagonist-turned-antagonist did have some admirable qualities, such as patience and inner strength. However, the more I got to know that character, the less I cared for her. I'd been very busy all this time trying to cook up problems for her when she was a protagonist. Then I had a brainstorm and played "what if." What if this character was the source of problems for another character, say, her next-door neighbor? The initial problem could be a very simple one involving both characters, one being the protagonist and the other being the antagonist.

Now things began to fall into place and I just finished a paragraph outline of what has happened between the two so far ---- a simple incident in which one, the protagonist, inadvertently getting on the antagonist's nerves, leading to increasing dislike between the two and pressure on the protagonist to do something to relieve the situation. Talking isn't going to do it right now, but teaching someone a lesson just might. That lesson, at least in my novel, needs to be effective and funny.

In creating a plot line for any novel, things will invariably happen that have the potential to give a run-of-the-mill, predictable plot a twist. That twist isn't always obvious. Sometimes it takes a couple of days of writing to make it more so.

So if you're finding that your plot is evolving into a totally different one as you become more familiar with your characters, don't panic or try to force your characters to be something they are not. Here are a few suggestions for doing this:

ADD ANOTHER CHARACTER: This person might be an outsider, such as a consultant, or one who has been sent to serve as a spy for another individual or rival company.

SWITCH CHARACTER ROLES: Sometimes characters aren't what they seem to be at first, as I discovered between a character who was originally supposed to be a protagonist. No wonder I had a problem in giving her problems, Given her noxious personality, she is going to be more effective as an antagonist. Had I rushed to create a plot, I would have soon become bogged down, wondering what would happen next, specifically.

DELVE INTO EXISTING CHARACTERS' PERSONALITIES: Why are they like that anyway and how do you feel about it? Do you honestly like your protagonist? Would you just love to give your antagonist the problems that she can use to make bigger problems for the protagonist? Or would your antagonist be better off dead? Who decides to off her --- and why?

GO WITH THE FLOW IN PROBING EACH CHARACTER'S SITUATION: Write an incident involving him or her and explain why he or she got involved. You would be surprised at the twists and turns that seem to occur to you as you write. These, in turn, may inspire a plot line that may not have occurred to you and add a unique twist to your story/novel. Take it to the extreme. Keep pushing. Assume a child's innocence and for each item, keep asking yourself why and write down the answers. Keep writing even if everything so far seems commonplace and predictable. You increase your chances of striking plot gold. You never know.

By: Dorothy Zjawin

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Words Count

Every Word Counts

As a professional speaker I love when I have an hour to communicate a message, I can tell a story, go off topic and still finish with five minutes to spare.  When I am confined to 30 minutes to share that same idea, I have to tighten it down it down a little bit.  I have to stick to my outline and stay on topic.

The shorter the presentation, the more rehearsing I do to insure I focus on the most important information.  In a five minute talk, I will watch the clock as I rehearse and eliminate unnecessary thoughts and ideas making every word count.

It is a shame that business owners don't apply that same discipline to networking.  I have seen business owners ramble and fumble their way through a conversation.  Even 15 minutes into the conversation they still haven't told me the most important things.  And I have seen sales people do the same thing.  They get caught up in telling me about all the features, they never get around to telling me the one thing I need to know that will move me to action.

These people treat these conversations as if they had all the time in the world to take me on this convoluted trip.  Unfortunately, I have the attention span of a flea. if they haven't caught my attention in the first five minutes, it is going to be really hard to get it back,

Do you need to practice everything you are going to say?  Of course not, but having a few tight sound bites you can drop into a conversation will help you move that conversation along.

Thinking about your words will improve your writing too.  We don't live in an era where people will take the time read a long convoluted blog post, hoping to find one interesting nugget of information buried in there somewhere.

When you are done writing a post, walk away from it for a little while.  When you come back read it out loud, and eliminate.  It will be easier to hear phrases which sound awkward or confusing.  Eliminate unnecessary phrases which make the post last longer than five minutes.  What you will be left with is a tighter post, which holds the reader's attention.

And when you want to share the link on twitter, do more than just telling me you have a new blog post. Find the most interesting phrase, and share that.  Choose wisely, because every word counts.

Lorraine Ball is focused on Small Business. As founder of Roundpeg, Indy's leading small business marketing firm, Lorraine helps small firms become big firms!

By. Lorraine Ball

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