Whether shallow or deep, a story’s plot holes need fixing. Most likely the breaks in a cohesive storyline appear in the first draft. Right now, I’m facing the plot hole syndrome in the third book of my five-novel series. The elusive remedy: Dynamic prose that ties the story together like a tightly woven tapestry.
Admittedly, I challenged myself from the outset with no fully developed outline for my current project. By nature, I’m a plotter. My typical approach to writing stems from college days as an English major with a Concentration in Film Theory meaning I wrote LOTS of papers. Also, as a Writing Fellow, I studied argumentation and defended one thesis statement with several arguments for the entire semester. Organization and a process of defense remained key to my assignments. The discipline of a cogent thesis statement and solid supportive statements that build on the original premise is imprinted in my writer’s psyche.
Compared to my work in progress, my second published novel unfolded with little to no fits and starts. I knew the central character as if she were flesh and blood. She’d already appeared in my first novel Unearthing Christmas. I’m amazed how a character can tap on a writer’s shoulder and demand center stage! That’s what happened with Miss Lori Hopkins, a shadowy figure in the first book. With her own story in The Years In Between she experienced more twists, turns, highs, and lows than a wild jaunt on a roller coaster. As her scribe, I went along for the ride. My strategy entailed blocking out her life events on a large poster with a square for each chapter or beat. Sure, things changed along the path but I had a map to follow from start to finish.
Now I’m stuck in the mire of a messy tale with characters cobbled together and plot holes to boot! I’m patching together bits and pieces of writing with no defined road map. Years ago, I wrote scenes and formulated an idea for a book I wasn’t sure would see the light of day. I adopted the same title The Final Testament for my current novel, the third in The Miriam Chronicle series. Much of the premise for the former half-baked storyline doesn’t coincide with the vision or first half of the current project. Yet, strangely enough, both stories have a similar ending although different characters and subplots to achieve the same purpose. My answer? So far, I’ve shoe-horned the old pages into my work in progress. I did attempt plotting out the story but it doesn’t include these tangential characters yet. Do I give up on the idea of introducing old/new characters to the storyline? Not yet!
All stories take shape in the writing, whether you’re a plotter or a pantser. With either approach, there’s no guarantee against plot holes. They can occur between chapters, between paragraphs, and between any story transition. The reader may become disinterested in a book and publicize a DNF (Did Not Finish) review. Although I’ve evaded that one, I’ve seen enough DNF postings for books to cringe at the notion. Of course, the dreaded DNF can happen for a variety of reasons. But if the reader remarks on being “confused” that’s a telltale sign of a break in the story’s clarity. As a writer, you are also your story’s first reader to detect and fix anything that doesn’t work, especially plot-wise!
Fixing plot holes first depends on identifying them. What may seem like a plot hole may actually be the author’s devise to add mystery to the storyline. I checked a few online resources for an authenticated definition of a plot hole and found a reasonable one at “The Novel Factor” with an article entitled “10 Plot Hole Types and How to Fix Them.” My concern, at the moment, includes timeline gaps since my current project spans 60 years. But I don’t want to fill all of those years with tedious narrative or uninspired descriptive passages. Of course, I face the dilemma of gaping holes in what happens to the characters in the interim!
According to “The Novel Factor” article, a plot hole is “any gap or inconsistency in a storyline that goes against the logical flow established by the story’s plot.” The article continues to mention unintended contradictions, and YES, I’m guilty of that one. There’s one big plot hole a la a contradiction from Unearthing Christmas to The Years In Between, both standalones and the first two books in The Miriam Chronicles. I’d included a meet cute scene in The Years In Between of two characters, Charlotte and John, meeting on a ship bound for the French battleground during the Great War. In the first book, Unearthing Christmas, the characters met briefly in Boston before heading across the pond. The revised and corrected Unearthing Christmas will hopefully be republished in 2024 or 2025 at the latest! I’ve also discovered reversing names of characters in a dialogue sequence, changing the names of a small town as the family’s home of origin, i.e. Bloomindale to Bloomington, and changing the last name of a character on the same page. Most of these discrepancies, other than the meet cute issue, were corrected in subsequently printed copies. Noteworthy is that the book with these errors was traditionally published!
My biggest dilemma right now? Timelines! I don’t want to bridge these long stretches of time with boring, unnecessary, or distracting plot details. Conversely, I don’t want readers wondering what happens in the meantime, similar to a soap opera character who transforms from teen years to an adult in one season!
Any story creation requires suspension of disbelief, but it’s hard to convince a reader of same. Reading, quite literally, is more literal than a movie or stage play! Readers expect more detail or consistency in the written word. The continued trend in novels is to change protagonists with chapters and hop around the story to fit in all the details. I have yet to go that route. I tend to focus on one or two main characters and a cast of thousands, per se, that enter and exit to advance the story.
With the third novel, my ongoing challenges are: (1) make time jumps as seamless as possible; (2) fix any plot holes a la inconsistencies; and (3) finish up the first draft! But my next step? Create the outline! Wishing all writers a happy journey with their stories and all the inherent detours, unpredictable crossroads, and the awaiting treasure when reaching the end!