I should probably cut myself some slack.
I've been reviewing my saga lately as I was writing up those pieces I promised. As I have stated previously, I developed the story when I was a child and expanded it during my teens. In retrospect, I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised now that parts of the tale I developed in my youth have significant plot holes. Without giving too much away, here's an example:
In an early chapter of my saga Corey develops an extremely powerful ability, which he then uses in a fashion that might ordinarily qualify as "Deus Ex Machina". However, by using this ability Corey inadvertently draws the attention of The Big Bad... so for the next stage of the saga, Corey has no choice but to go on the run.
The problem is that in the next chapter, Corey *DOESN'T* use his new ability when dealing with forces chasing him... and Corey is no idiot. So this qualifies as a *MAJOR* plot hole.
I've spent the past couple of days trying to figure out how to fix this... and I felt like I was getting nowhere. I couldn't side-step the issue because the scenes in question are a significant part of Corey's early development. I either had to come up with an explanation for why Corey can't/won't use his ability in the later chapter or find another way for Corey to resolve the problem he faced in the earlier chapter.
I'll admit I was berating my own abilities as a story-teller for a while... but in the last few hours I've made some headway. First and foremost: Corey confronts an Eldritch Abomination at the end of the earlier chapter, and the encounter causes significant mental trauma. On top of that, I reviewed the exact circumstances where Corey uses this ability... and suddenly realized that there were some built-in limitations regarding where and how Corey could pull off this particular stunt. Between these two issues, I now have a believable explanation as to why Corey can't use his newly found ability in the latter chapter.
There are some other issues I have to deal with in these chapters, like when/how Corey reacquires the ability in question. Plus I've also realized that a whole group of people are going to die as a direct result of the stunt Corey pulled in the earlier scene... but hey, I never promised anyone a happy ending...
In an early chapter of my saga Corey develops an extremely powerful ability, which he then uses in a fashion that might ordinarily qualify as "Deus Ex Machina". However, by using this ability Corey inadvertently draws the attention of The Big Bad... so for the next stage of the saga, Corey has no choice but to go on the run.
The problem is that in the next chapter, Corey *DOESN'T* use his new ability when dealing with forces chasing him... and Corey is no idiot. So this qualifies as a *MAJOR* plot hole.
I've spent the past couple of days trying to figure out how to fix this... and I felt like I was getting nowhere. I couldn't side-step the issue because the scenes in question are a significant part of Corey's early development. I either had to come up with an explanation for why Corey can't/won't use his ability in the later chapter or find another way for Corey to resolve the problem he faced in the earlier chapter.
I'll admit I was berating my own abilities as a story-teller for a while... but in the last few hours I've made some headway. First and foremost: Corey confronts an Eldritch Abomination at the end of the earlier chapter, and the encounter causes significant mental trauma. On top of that, I reviewed the exact circumstances where Corey uses this ability... and suddenly realized that there were some built-in limitations regarding where and how Corey could pull off this particular stunt. Between these two issues, I now have a believable explanation as to why Corey can't use his newly found ability in the latter chapter.
There are some other issues I have to deal with in these chapters, like when/how Corey reacquires the ability in question. Plus I've also realized that a whole group of people are going to die as a direct result of the stunt Corey pulled in the earlier scene... but hey, I never promised anyone a happy ending...