Question: Just Plotting Along . . .
With NaNo in full swing, I can practically smell the millions of ideas in the air, strong puffs of smoke and electrified air curling into the atmosphere. For some, their stories are forward moving. No roadblocks or potholes. It's smooth sailing, or at the very least they are typing a lot of song lyrics to beef up the daily word count. For others, week one may have revealed a large pothole in their plot. Now, before I continue, I want to be clear, that plot potholes don't just happen during NaNo. Oh, no. Over the weekend, I realized I have a sinker in my story and I'm not participating in NaNo and I'm 90 pages into my story. Plot issues don't discriminate. I suppose there should be comfort in that...I suppose. But I digress.
Some people will see the hole, a massive crater in the road, and decide to take a different route.
Some people will see the hole, an annoyance, and fill it in with stuff to make it hold for a while or move around it.
Some people will see the hole, a mere crack revealing weakness, but keep moving forward until the issue must be attended to.
Regardless of the size of the pothole and the final action, most writer's take a moment (or a million) to figure out how to proceed. That moment (or moments) is what I'm interested in. In my early days as a writer, I had to talk things out, bounce ideas off someone. Lately, I seem more introspective. I review what I've written, map it out (I'm visual, so pictures or timelines help me) and review my character's ARC. Sometimes I realize I have taken some side street, back track and get back to the right road, and sometimes I realize the road was bad from the start.
What do you do when you see a plothole?
What I want to know is how do you work through, around, or eradicate your plot pothole.
Some people will see the hole, a massive crater in the road, and decide to take a different route.
Some people will see the hole, an annoyance, and fill it in with stuff to make it hold for a while or move around it.
Some people will see the hole, a mere crack revealing weakness, but keep moving forward until the issue must be attended to.
Regardless of the size of the pothole and the final action, most writer's take a moment (or a million) to figure out how to proceed. That moment (or moments) is what I'm interested in. In my early days as a writer, I had to talk things out, bounce ideas off someone. Lately, I seem more introspective. I review what I've written, map it out (I'm visual, so pictures or timelines help me) and review my character's ARC. Sometimes I realize I have taken some side street, back track and get back to the right road, and sometimes I realize the road was bad from the start.
What do you do when you see a plothole?
What I want to know is how do you work through, around, or eradicate your plot pothole.