One of my biggest weakness is logic/plot holes. And it's not only about inconsistency in my stories, but my character often have contradictory thoughts and do stuff that come up as unbelievable.
I'm not sure if is because I'm a pantser: I don't outline, I just write as I go, like I'm watching a movie and just writing down the transcript.
What are some tips to improve the logic of a story and reduce the plot holes (before showing it to beta-readers and an editor)?
Answer
An author, whose name I forget, explained his procedure in the following way:
- Write your story down. Leave this version as it is, that is, do not attempt to close plot holes or correct continuity. Instead:
- Put that first version away, and
- Write the whole story again from scratch.
- Repeat until you are happy with your result.
What this does is that plot holes happen because you are still exploring your story. After you have written the first draft, you now know the story. If you try to correct the first draft, you will be caught in incompatibilities that cannot be overcome. But if you write the story a second time, your mind will create a consistent version of your story (if you don't force it to keep the inconsistencies), because that is how the human mind works: we misremember facts or misinterpret them to achieve consistency, and this method makes use of that.
No comments:
Post a Comment