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So....Plot Holes

867 views 15 replies 12 participants last post by  sstroble 
#1 ·
I was thinking about plot holes today, guys. Namely, I was thinking about some of the plot holes I've stumbled upon in my drafts. Obviously, being a pantser, plot holes are a way of life. A major role of editing for me is stitching up the holes and ironing out any wrinkles created by them.

What about you guys? Have you ever come across any terrible plot holes in your work? Any funny ones? How do you fix them? Are they usually pretty easy to fix, or are your plot holes the ones that require you to perform major surgery to correct? Have you ever become aware of a plot hole after publishing? What did you do?

Tell me your tales of woe.

(Basically, make me feel better before I finish the novella I'm working on and discovering a horde of embarrassing plot holes when I edit.)
 
#2 ·
I'm a pantser and while I don't usually have plot holes, I do have plausibility issues in my current novel. I have to make sure the reasons behind people's actions are plausible. Would someone do that? Was that a realistic reaction? I have less experience with "reality" so it is difficult for me to keep up the drama while also being realistic. Paranormal and scifi are easier for me to conceive, even if I have to build an entire world. I do like reality because it allowed me to delve more deeply into emotions that pertain to real life circumstances.

I think in fiction, there is a fine line between not expanding enough and explaining too much. You have to skim that edge to keep people buying in to the story.
 
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#3 ·
I wrote in a version using Japanese samurai, then half way through changed it to Chinese traditional guards, but accidentally left in the word Samurai twice. It got through all the editing and was picked up by a few readers. :) I left it in for a while while i did some other updates. I SWEAR people brought the book just to find the plot holes. :)
 
#4 ·
I have a minor plot problem that probably wouldn't bother anybody but me, but it now has its own spreadsheet so that I can avoid it. For background, I am the sort of person who is thrown out of reading a book when weird tiny inconsistencies break my suspension of disbelief (Yes, I know. I'm horrible).

So there begins my problem.

My character likes to drink coffee.

The problem is, every time she has a cup of coffee something awful happens to her (they aren't necessarily related): a semi-sentient toaster tries to kill her, her Inn is taken over by malevolent forces of potato-shaped evil- the usual problems.

So in the midst of all the action, I've been trying to find subtle, non-obtrusive ways to get rid of her coffee cup.

I now have a spreadsheet outlining when and where those bloody coffee cups show up and disappear.

I'm not succeeding very well, but here's hoping!
 
#7 ·
Annabelle Fogerty said:
I'm a pantser and while I don't usually have plot holes, I do have plausibility issues in my current novel. I have to make sure the reasons behind people's actions are plausible. Would someone do that? Was that a realistic reaction? I have less experience with "reality" so it is difficult for me to keep up the drama while also being realistic. Paranormal and scifi are easier for me to conceive, even if I have to build an entire world. I do like reality because it allowed me to delve more deeply into emotions that pertain to real life circumstances.

I think in fiction, there is a fine line between not expanding enough and explaining too much. You have to skim that edge to keep people buying in to the story.
I occasionally have plausibility issues, too. You're not alone. I have to make sure my characterization is consistent; it occasionally gets a little wonky, especially when I'm writing something I haven't been brainstorming for a long time.
 
#8 ·
Donna White Glaser said:
I tend to lose people. Like, they're there in the beginning of the story and apparently have some function. And then they just... go away.
Also, with my last book, I had most of the characters having some kind of discussion standing in a doorway.
Me too! Or they'll start out in the scene but lose their necessity. I have these little notes like: "Get rid of Mellie." or "The maid was with them before." etc, then I have to go back and add or subtract people.
 
#10 ·
Annabelle Fogerty said:
I'm a pantser and while I don't usually have plot holes, I do have plausibility issues in my current novel. I have to make sure the reasons behind people's actions are plausible. Would someone do that? Was that a realistic reaction? I have less experience with "reality" so it is difficult for me to keep up the drama while also being realistic. Paranormal and scifi are easier for me to conceive, even if I have to build an entire world. I do like reality because it allowed me to delve more deeply into emotions that pertain to real life circumstances.

I think in fiction, there is a fine line between not expanding enough and explaining too much. You have to skim that edge to keep people buying in to the story.
THis is me, too. I write what I think is a fantastic scene, with my hero(ine) doing something awesome and clever to attain the objective. And then I go back and re-read it and think-- "Duh, why did she do that when it would have made a lot more sense for her to do this?" So for me, it's usually a matter of making sure there's a reason why my characters do what they do. Writing in cool scenes is one thing, but if there's no plausible reason for the characters to do it, then that needs to be fixed. I'm going through that right now, as a matter of fact. If the character steals something from a museum, why didn't she take it with her when she left? (Because I had the cleverest place for her to hide it, that's why!! 8) ) Instead I had to write in stuff about security and police searches, blah blah blah.

Every time I worry and fret about this stuff, I see some popular TV show or movie which has me wondering "hey, why did they do that? That's not very plausible! And then I feel better. ;)
 
#11 ·
I had to get my tattoo artist hero from LA into a biker gang in northern California. He ends up being the tattoo jockey for the club because they are holding some crimes he did when he was younger over his head. The whole relationship of him to the biker gang is very sketchy. I have to tread very lightly to not under or over explain it.  It basically ends up being based on some family relationships and promises and then it evolves even more. I know that it's a plot thread I have to watch carefully so it doesn't seem ridiculous.

You can suspend disbelief to a certain degree by NOT explaining something, but you have to at least have a believable enough simple explanation for why people are doing things. It ends up that the club president just comes off as kind of an idiot and a jerk, even though I wanted the club to not really be "bad" in the end.

I'm stepping away from this manuscript for a few days so that I can let it rest before I dig back into it.  I'm going to work on a new rough draft for a more lighthearted and shorter paranormal.
 
#13 ·
I hit a plot hole once while writing. It jarred me enough that I stopped writing for a little over a month because I knew fixing it would take a long time. But once I began fixing the problem, it was done (messy, but done) in a few days. I look back at that previous month and wonder if I could have made better sales if I released it when I planned to. After finishing the draft, I went through my editing/polishing/rewriting phases and you can't tell there was ever a problem.
 
#14 ·
Plot holes are what ate up the last two months of my life! Never again will I be a panster with a longer work. I need to have a loose outline from now on or my wife will get tired of cleaning up the clumps of my hair on the floor.

My latest hole was opening a chapter with the heroine at her brother's funeral. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that she had a brother in the previous ten chapters, even though they were very close. And I forgot to mention that he died. She just appeared at funeral that someone had magically planned, even though the previous scene had her happily eating falafels. :eek:
 
#15 ·
Donna White Glaser said:
I tend to lose people. Like, they're there in the beginning of the story and apparently have some function. And then they just... go away.
Also, with my last book, I had most of the characters having some kind of discussion standing in a doorway.
Opposite problem here. I tend to discover minor characters along the way that need to play larger roles, but I don't go back to build up the characters in the parts I've already written until I finish the first draft. It typically takes two edits before everything matches up.
 
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