By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
As I’ve mentioned before, I have a love-hate relationship with outlining. For me and the speed with which I’m writing, it’s become a necessary evil. But I dislike it.
I dislike it enough to happily deviate from my outline whenever I feel like it. And frequently, the story is better when I do.
The only thing is that my outlines don’t have any plot holes in them (at least, they haven’t so far) and my deviations do.
I deviated way off course on Monday and killed a character that wasn’t the intended victim in my outline (the outline, sadly, that was approved by my editor at Penguin. I’m hoping this deviation will be okay.) I felt as if the choice of victim was better and opened up more possibilities.
But then, as I wrote, I realized I’d written myself into a whole slew of plot holes. Plot holes, if you’re new to this, are spots in your story that just don’t add up. Sometimes they’re in there as a plot contrivance by the author, sometimes they’re just accidental.
When I realized the sheer volume of plot holes I was unearthing, I made sure to ask myself questions as I went along. Actually, I only asked myself one question: why. That’s how I got out of all the messes I made (well, so far. I’m sure I will create more because I’ve come up with this deviation on page 207 and I’m sure it’s created some issues earlier in the book).
So here’s how it went for me (and there shouldn’t be any major spoilers here…but if you’re a reader, this book comes out next year and so….)
The victim’s death looks like suicide, but it’s treated like murder by the police. Why?
The victim went on a walk that morning, but I’d said earlier that it was pouring down rain. Why did he go on the walk?
The victim fell off a cliff in a remote area and there were no witnesses. Why did the police know to look for him there?
For my own devices, I didn’t want the victim’s wife to be a suspect. But why don’t the police suspect her when spouses are the usual suspects?
Once I came up with all the answers, I’ll be able to go back in and fill in the holes.
Sometimes I don’t catch them all, and this is another reason why editors are so valuable—both for traditionally published and self-published writers.
How do you spot your plot holes? Are you an outline deviator, too?
Image: MorgueFile: Gracey
Great idea to ask yourself those questions. My critique partners are so good at catching plot holes. Thank goodness!
Julie–That’s a blessing, for sure! Sometimes I don’t catch mine at all.
I don’t do outlines. I hate them. I feel it binds my characters when they might want to do something that’s not in the outline. In the book that is currently going through my critique group, the person I initially thought could be the murderer ended up being the second victim. I had no idea who had killed both of these women. When a third victim showed up, I thought of someone else who could be the murderer, but he didn’t really have a motive for the first two killings. So I just kept on writing and the real killer finally showed himself with motive, means, and opportunity. The ladies in my critique group love my plot twists. In the book I am currently working on, I do know who the murderer is–at least I think I do. But maybe not. We’ll just have to see.
Sharee–Oh, I totally understand where you’re coming from. I wrote six or seven books that way. But then I had several disasters and I was on deadline. I’m a very reluctant outliner! And the murderer’s identity is something that I frequently will change from the outlined killer.
Hi Elizabeth – read this as potholes – and thought after our winter we’re experiencing loads of them too .. and your photo confirmed my pothole link up!
However now I see it’s plot holes … and I’m thinking of crumbling cliffs, pouring rain of our winter and our coastal shore line … lots of food for thought and love the way you’ve described how you get over your plot holes … good luck with page 207!!
I pick things up in story lines on the tv .. when I don’t need to concentrate or worry – just sometimes things just don’t make absolute sense – then I switch off once again and enjoy the simple entertainment and downtime I’m taking … but I’m only watching …
Cheers Hilary
Hilary–We have so many *potholes* here, too! Ugh. Driving down the street is very treacherous.
Thanks for the good luck wishes! It will be a mess to clean up, for sure…ha!
It’s good that you can switch that off and just enjoy the show. I have trouble with that. But now, at least, I don’t feel the pressing need to point out to my husband/son/daughter the plot holes in the storylines. :) For a while, I was obnoxious to watch TV with.
Asking why – I like that. I’ll be adding a several new aspects and scenes to my current manuscript once the first draft is done, and I’m sure something will contradict itself somewhere. That will help me fix it. Thanks!
Good luck with the rest of the first draft and your revisions, Alex!
Elizabeth – It’s such a delicate balance isn’t it between making sure a story is logical and makes sense and making sure it’s also a fresh, well-written story. Spontaneity vs planning – it’s always tricky. I like your question of why? very much. Not only does it help with the plot hole issue, but it helps when developing characters too. Why does this character dislike the other one? What about their history started it all? I also like the question How?. It helps in making the story hang together logically (e.g. How does this character know a particular piece of information?)
Margot–Very good point! If we ask ‘why’ during character creation then our characters can become more rounded and better developed. And readers can see the characters’ motivation better, too.
I’m working on red herrings right now, and your question “Why?” is a great way to test the plausibility of their guilt or innocence. Thanks–you might just have pulled me out of a pothole of my own!
Susan–I’m so glad! Good luck with your story.
Elizabeth, I’m curious about how trad. pubbed authors work with editors. You mentioned your editor had already approved the outline. Once you have a publishing deal, do all future books need to be approved in outline form before you write the book? What if the editor doesn’t like the outline? I’d love to see a blog post about this. It’s not something I’ve read much about. (I’ve heard John Grisham doesn’t start writing till his editor approves the new outline, but didn’t realize this was standard in the industry.)
Leslie–I didn’t know that about Grisham…interesting. I can only speak to my experience because writers are fairly close-mouthed about contracts. Well, actually, I can speak to the writers that I have an in-person relationship, too…I know how their contracts work because they’ve mentioned them to me. When I get a deal for one series (Southern Quilting mysteries), I have deadlines for outline submission and final story submission. There is no mention what will happen if the editor really dislikes the outline, but what’s happened in the past is that my editor will send me an editorial letter with ideas for changes. I always make the changes because this editor is really, really good (I’m always terrified she’s going to be promoted…I’m living on borrowed time with her). For my other series, I had no outline approval deadlines in my contract. So it’s really an editorial prerogative. Of the authors I know, it’s very editor-specific if they’ll have those clauses or not–one editor always asks for it, another never does. Personal preference of the editor. Hope this helps! I should blog on this, you’re right.
Such a powerful, simple tool! Thanks Elizabeth. I’m so thankful to my critique partners because they usually catch this sort of thing. :-)
Jenny–Sounds like you’ve got some great betas! Thanks for coming by, Jenny.
Why is my favorite question. I’m glad it’s my editor’s as well, because she caught a biggie in the last book. And, to help avoid holes, I try to make notes of clues (even if I don’t know they’re clues) as I go along. I write them on little sticky notes and when I’ve addressed them, I throw them away.
Terry–Good point about clues/red herrings. Anything that we introduce in a mystery needs to be tied up at the end. Readers of mysteries really pay attention to those things.
Asking yourself those questions is a great idea. I think as long as you’re aware of what is wrong with the story, then you’ll always be able to go back and fix it.
Sarah–Exactly! I think when I first started writing, I was afraid to too closely examine my book…scared of all the problems I might find. Now I’m searching for any problem with my book that I can possibly find…certainly don’t want it to be the readers who find them.
Once again I’m saving this. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for coming by, Teresa!
Elizabeth–
What occurs to me as a possible, positive side effect of stepping “off the ranch” of your outline is that you get the challenge to invention represented by filling the potholes–sorry, plot holes (if you were driving anywhere in Michigan just now, you’d understand my slip). And I second everyone else’s thank-you for the simple, universally applicable question, “Why?” If the answer to it is contrived and complicated, then “Houston, we’ve got a problem.”
Barry–Michigan and NC seem to have a lot in common, at least as far as roads are concerned. :)
Ah…and you bring up something I didn’t really address in the post. If the answer to the ‘why’ is incredibly difficult and convoluted, then we’ve got to just ditch that reason and keep finding other explanations.
The outline as life preserver! Early or late, the outline says my day.
Like you, I hate to be told what to do so the outline and I often feud over wild turns I take.
Meh. New outline to the rescue!
Jack—The new outline! Yes!
My poor editor…always in the dark about upcoming books, even with a submitted outline!
Outlining is never fun, but the more intricate the plot the more necessary it becomes. There is no harm in sharing plot questions like you have here because your readers may have suggestions. In the chance your questions are real ones, their answers lie in habit. Your victim walked every day regardless of weather; they took the same path every day, and the police were interested enough to consider murder because of some odd blood work in the autopsy that may or may not have anything to do with case.
The sad truth about outlining is that despite the lack of fun it will get you through the book faster and allow more time for writing well as the brain focuses on the words because it has faith in the course you’re following.
Thanks for the post.
Ken–Thanks so much for coming by. You’re absolutely right about the speed of writing which outlining enables…it’s remarkable. I’d never thought about the fact that it also creates an environment for better focus…but it’s very true. Last summer I had to step away from my manuscript for several weeks because of travel and a family member’s medical problem…and picked right back up where I left off.
I used to be a compulsive, obsessive plotter/planner. Now I realize I was actually writing mini versions of the book because every time I came back to the outline, I’d reinvent it. Not a good thing if you are trying to get a full draft. A good thing for convoluted plots. When I focused and just started with the last, shaky outline I’d done I wrote a very workable draft in 30 days. Seems all that dipping and dodging and running down side trails helped me know my characters, which helped me answer all those “why did they do that?” questions. The locked room premise, or “He ended up stuck here – how will he get out?” works too. In answering the Why or How Questions, I get useable fresh story.
Mahrie–So for you it may have been that you were working through your plots and characters through short drafts? A 30 day draft in good condition is a great accomplishment!
And with the material you *don’t* use, you could actually even put it away to use another time for a different story.
Thank you for a useful post, Elizabeth. I resisted outlines for a long time, but for the book I’m working on now, The Adila Arrangement, I had to work around a pregnancy, so a timeline became essential. Quite a trip down memory lane in the end. Still editing, and there are a couple of places where I still can’t see how a character could know something, and am trying to think of a plausible pathway for that information to get to them.
Jai–That was smart of you to make a timeline, knowing that you had a big event to work around! :) Yes, that can be tricky. I frequently use the old “someone overheard a conversation” gambit or else I have a very gossipy character. Sometimes, in my books, the gossipy character ends up conveniently dead later. But then, I write mysteries.