Yeah, Write: Troubleshooting Your Plot

Plots are such complicated things that often when something doesn’t work, we can tell that it’s falling apart, but we can’t really tell where. I’ve spent many hours picking apart my plots and looking for the loose thread, so here’s some ways I’ve noticed plots most commonly go wrong.

1. The character transformation isn’t believable.

Very likely whenever an arc goes wrong it’s not because of the circumstances the character went through, it’s because the character didn’t have enough agency. If your characters are never forced to make tough decisions, they’re also never forced to change. I’d go back to their goal and motivation and look through your plot to see which ways they are actively choosing it again and again.

2. It feels rushed.

Plots that meander or feel rushed are usually not due to the plot itself, but pacing issues within it. Before you touch your outline, look into your scenes and see where you could be adding more description. Are you using all five senses? And if you are, are you getting into your character’s head? Sometimes all a rushed scene needs is a moment of reflection, a little “check-in” with your protagonist.

Look through your work and mark down what the pacing of each scene should be. Fast-paced action scenes should have shorter paragraphs and less reflection than say a deep discussion between two characters.

3. Is it too short?

When it’s not an issue with pacing the problem might be with the scope. Is the transformation you’re writing large enough for the word count you were expecting? Consider the stakes of your story—if it’s too short, the inciting incident might not have turned the world upside down enough.

4. The character dynamics aren’t coming together.

Ah, the friends that just don’t seem to want to be friends, the group that’s constantly falling apart, the attractive strangers who stay strangers. Characters are really good at ruining our plans. In cases like these, it often comes back to the goals and motivations of every character involved. When groups don’t come together maybe not all of them have a reason to want to be there—how will it help each one of them achieve their goal?