How to Write a Good Story

Fixing Common Plot Problems (I)

The following article is again by Ms Elizabeth Sim, whose credentials speak for themselves (you can find them in an earlier chapter). Personally, I find the information in these types of articles from experienced writers invaluable, and I hope it will be the same for you.

Good fiction takes time. You cannot sit down at the keyboard and pound out the Great American Novel in one or two sessions. (Take it from me; I've tried.)

No, we must be patient with our art and our craft, we must read, we must study, we must write. And write, and write. Then we must think, cut, rewrite, polish and look again.

But there's such a thing as agonizing too much over your writing. Just as excessive reworking with charcoal and gum will ruin a drawing, too much scrutinizing and amending will sap the vitality of your original words. Most aspiring authors fall victim to this from time to time, causing needless pain, delay and, frankly, stunted results.

It's the hard parts that get you. When you come up against a knotty structural problem, take a breath and do what professionals do:

    •    Calmly evaluate the problem.

    •    Decide whether it really is a problem.

    •    Work out a solution.

    •    Implement it.

    •    Move on.

    •    Revisit the situation later.

Did you pick out the key phrase in that list? It's a solution. Not the perfect solution, but a solution. There is no single best way to solve any given writing quandary. What seasoned writers know—and what we can all take comfort in—is that there are lots of fine ways to solve them all. So when a problem arises and threatens to slow, divert or even stop your creative flow, you simply need to find one of those solutions so you can keep writing—it's as simple as that.

Not every problem can be solved in minutes, of course; situations like editing out a main character or completely reworking a plot cost plenty of time and effort. But surprisingly many structural problems can be dealt with more quickly than you might think.

Let's look at 10 common plot problems you can tackle in a flash—and then find out how to do it.

1. I'M MISSING A CRUCIAL PIECE OF INFORMATION.

You're writing a key scene, and you realize that you really need to know something, but it's either impossible to find out or too costly in time or money to do so.

10-MINUTE SOLUTION: If you can't find the exact data you need, get as close as you can and wing the rest.

Recently I was on a conference panel with other authors discussing intensive research, and after everybody shared exciting (or humiliating) stories about our quests for authenticity, we all agreed on one thing: When the chips are down, make it up.

Let's say you need to present exact details about the innards of a nuclear bomb. Current atomic devices are top secret, but you can learn a lot online about outdated ones. Then, use common sense and your imagination to take it from there. What might be different today in a bomb? Well, you can bet the electronics are smarter and smaller. With the addition of fictional details, you can BS your way convincingly through the scene:

The guts of the bomb were now open to his scrutiny. As the detonation sequence began, Agent 008 focused on the microchips, which were shielded, for fail-safe reasons, behind a thin titanium screen about the size of a credit card. Microchips are delicate. If he could somehow disable one, even by something as small as a scratch—that might do it. Nothing to lose at this point. He snapped the clip off his Montblanc Meisterstück and, using it as a miniature crowbar, went to work.

You might be surprised at how much you can make up in a convincing way. Maybe you need a recipe for the perfect poison and have no idea where to begin. Invent a character who's a chemist, and have that character develop a poison that's as lethal as cyanide, as innocent-smelling as strawberries and as traceable as water.

Be bold!

2. MY ACTION IN THIS SCENE DRAGS.

We've all been there: You've got an action scene that's starting to bore even you. Granted, your story is moving forward, but it feels cumbersome.

10-MINUTE SOLUTION: Resist the urge to pile it on; rather, tighten what you've got.

You could spend hours—days!—trying to inject more life into a scene, but the best solution is often just the opposite. Usually a quicker pace will do the trick.

One of the easiest, most effective ways to tighten prose is to turn full sentences into fragments and opt for one-line paragraphs.

If you start with this, for example:

The thug was much taller and heavier than Jamal. Looking up, Jamal thought: If I don't figure something out fast, we're all dead meat. There was the pool cue, propped against the table, his only available weapon. He grabbed it, wound up as the big man began to react, and swung. It was with a tremendous sense of satisfaction that everybody in the bar heard a crunching sound.

Turn it into something like this (and be sure to drop the "dead meat" cliché):

Jamal looked up. A giant.

Without thinking, he grabbed the pool cue and swung, eyes closed.

A satisfying crunch!

You shouldn't try to write a whole book this way, but rat-a-tat passages like this will bring variety and movement to your fiction.