Plotman to the Rescue: A Troubleshooting Guide to Fixing Your Toughest Plot Problems by James Scott Bell

Author:James Scott Bell
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Compendium Press
Published: 2019-11-03T22:00:00+00:00

MY PLOT HAS HOLES

GILDA RADNER, the famous comedienne of Saturday Night Live fame, did a character named Roseanne Roseannadanna. She’d do some commentary for the news segment, answering mail from a Mr. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey. The commentary would eventually devolve into something to do with personal grooming or hygiene, until the new anchor (Jane Curtin) interrupted because she was feeling ill.

One instance had Roseanne Roseannadanna making an analogy to a piece of skin hanging from your lip.

Which is what a plot hole is like.

It’s something the reader notices, hanging there. It’s distracting and ultimately … disappointing.

There are several kinds of plot holes, from cracks in the sidewalk to craters in the concrete.

The biggest hole, of course, is when a major event in the novel is not brought to proper resolution. At the other end of the spectrum is a plot item that figured in an early scene—like a crucial piece of evidence, or an item of value to one or more characters. If a reader gets to the end of the book and wonders what happened to that pearl necklace from Chapter 5, you have a small hole. But even small holes detract from the pleasure of a novel, just as a pothole in the street takes away from a smooth drive.

How do we fix things? Try using minor characters. They’re great for plugging up holes.

Let’s say you get to the end and that pearl necklace is still dangling. Your main character and her policeman boyfriend are about to confront the villain. They’re at police headquarters making a plan. Now you invent a minor character, a small time crook who’s just been arrested. The arresting officer tells the policeman boyfriend that the crook has asked to speak with him.

The crook says, “Maybe you can help me out, huh? Do me a favor?”

“Why should I?” the cop says.

“Maybe I got something you need.”

“What could you possibly have?”

“Does a pearl necklace mean anything to you?”

Cop grabs crook’s lapels. “What do you know about it?”

The crook goes on to explain how he got the necklace, and from whom. Plot hole plugged up.

You can even go back and plant this character earlier in the novel. Maybe he’s a shadowy figure in a scene, who makes an escape. When he comes back at the end, the cop recognizes him from the first encounter.

One of the great things about being a novelist is that you can create a character at any time for any reason. There are innumerable ways minor characters can be used to plug up plot holes.

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