Diana Love Snell, New York Times Best Selling Author

Break Into Fiction® Tips for Troubleshooting Plot Holes By New York Times best selling author Dianna Love

Dianna Love has joined us today to share Tips for Troubleshooting Plot Holes in stories. Dianna and award-winning author Mary Buckham wrote the Break Into Fiction®: 11 Steps to Building a Story that Sells (Adams Media/June 2009) book based on the innovative Break Into Fiction® writing programs they teach nationally.

Dianna sold the first novel she wrote – WORTH EVERY RISK – to Harlequin that went on to win a RITA® award under the name Dianna Love Snell. Her next releases were by St. Martin’s Press and Pocket, all three books hitting the New York Times list. Prior to those publications the suggestion was made to shorten her name to Dianna Love, which she now uses. Dianna co-writes a romantic thriller series with #1 NYT best selling author Sherrilyn Kenyon based on a covert national security group known as the Bureau of American Defense…or BAD. Their current release is WHISPERED LIES (Pocket/May 2009). For more on Dianna visit www.AuthorDiannaLove.com and www.BreakIntoFiction.com

A big thanks to Mary Barfield for inviting me today.

I get this question often: What mistakes do writers commonly make in plotting?

There’s no way to answer that thoroughly here, which is why Mary Buckham and I finally wrote a book so writers could find those answers while working on their own story. But to address some bullet point issues, let’s start with plot holes in general.

A plot hole is a point in your story where the reader stops reading to question why something did, or did not, happen. Or the reader is taken off the ride because the character made an illogical action or decision. Or it happens because the writer inserted an action because “the writer needed X to happen at a certain point,” not because the action was motivated properly or because there was any logical reason for that action/situation.

Plot holes stem from a lot of things, but the simplest answer is “lack of motivation.” Or lack of the ability to answer the question “Why?” If you find yourself explaining why something happens in your story – this is red flag for a plot hole. Your story has to stand on its on merits with you thousands of miles away from someone reading it when you can’t explain anything to the reader.

Even if an agent or editor would let you explain it – why would that be okay? You can’t stand in the aisle at the bookstore and explain to every person who buys your book, “When you get to ______ scene, this is why that happens…”

Key points to ask yourself when working on a story are –
• Would “I” do this in this person’s shoes? I can’t tell you how many times I work with a writer on a story where they have an implausible situation and I ask the writer if they would make the same decisions or act the same way as the character? Too many of those writers will start saying, “You don’t understand…” Then they go on to explain why their character has to do this, but they still have not answered the question of “would YOU do that?” You are selling books to real, everyday people who are going to judge your character based on what they feel is believable.
• Why would your character do this now? You may “need” your character to do something at that point to force an action or decision, but if you can’t answer that question from the character’s mind then you may have them acting “out of character” – again, not believable.
• What is this character risking at each twist point in the story? There are 3 twist points in the story that ups the stakes and risks, places where the character faces obstacles and have to have a good reason for continuing to move toward their external goal. Too often, I see where stories have one thing happening after another with no real change occurring and the character does not face increased stakes or have a good reason to keep trying to save the world or find the killer.
• Why should we cheer for this character at the end? If you are writing commercial fiction, we need a reason to do high-fives for the character at the end. If you don’t have an answer for that question, something has broken down midway in your story. If your twist points are weak or missing, your ending will have no punch. The story arc has to continue to rise with higher stakes and risks to the point where everything is on the line.

If after each time your character(s) makes a decision or takes an action, you have trouble answering “why?” that will indicate of a plot hole. Sagging middles come from lack of strong twist points. Weak or missing twist points undermine the power in your story and the ending.

As I said, I can’t address everything here because there is so much more to creating a powerful novel. In Break Into Fiction®, we give both Plotters and Pantsers (writes by the seat of their pants) the tools necessary to build a compelling story with strong characters. The worksheets in our book are intended to have you start at chapter one working on YOUR story.

A Plotter will be able to assure their story is going in the right direction from the beginning with significant actions that will force the character(s) to grow and change, and the story arc to rise in a logical and believable way to a powerful ending.
A Pantser (writes by the seat of their pants) will use the questions in the worksheets to locate plot holes and character issues during the revision process, and to brainstorm the changes needed to fix problem areas.

What better way to learn than to apply the information immediately with your story?

Mary and I created a program and book that we wished we’d had when we first started writing. We wanted a book that would work like a personal critique partner to ask you questions about your story. That’s how Break Into Fiction came to be written and published.

So, what stumps you when it comes to plotting?

I’m giving away BOOKS! Post a hello or a question today for a chance to win a copy of Break Into Fiction® and a copy of PHANTOM IN THE NIGHT (the first BAD Agency book Dianna co-wrote with Sherrilyn Kenyon).

For more about Break Into Fiction® visit www.BreakIntoFiction.com where you can sign up for a chance to win critiques and books. You can attend one of our special upcoming workshops at the Moonlight & Magnolias conference this October 2-4, 2009.