_edited.png)
Much like anything worth doing well, writing a book takes time. Rushing out a first draft in six weeks and immediately sending it to print will—undoubtedly—result in some very unpleasant and embarrassing errors within the story. These errors will be anything from editorial mishaps to developmental blunders. No one is immune from these types of mistakes. Not even the best writers. When it comes to avoiding such mistakes, extra care and consideration are necessary, but even then, it always seems that at least one error eludes us.
This blog will teach about the bane of every writer’s existence: plot holes… all five types of them. In it, you will also learn how to fix them, and make your first draft all the more effective. Grab a coffee and a pen, and let’s get started.
Types of Plot Holes
Before diving in to learn how to fix plot holes, you first need to learn what you’ll be looking for. Most writers believe plot holes to be some massive error glaring you in the face when you read through your first draft, but this is only half true. Many plot holes appear on a smaller scale, hidden within the details of the storyline, facts, and character personalities. When you understand which type of plot hole you’re dealing with, it makes correcting the errors easier to manage.
I. Impossible or Illogical
As the name says, this type of plot hole is where something impossible or illogical happens based on the governing laws of your book. If your book is set in a real-world place, stick to the logic and plausibility of real-world events. Fantasy writers are exempt—almost—from this rule, however, it is critically important to take note of different governing laws of magic, science, time, etc. so you can remember what is possible and what isn’t in your world.
Examples: a twelve-year-old boy with no prior experience with rockets cracks the code that NASA couldn’t, or a western cowboy traveling 100 miles in one night by horse, when an average horse can only travel 25 to 35 miles a day.
II. Contradictory
Building upon the impossible or illogical types of plot holes, contradictory plot holes break away from the laws and logic you previously set in place in your story. If it is impossible for a character to fly their hovercar on a Tuesday, but a few pages later they’re flying their hovercar on a Tuesday, that is a contradictory error. Another example is of a character who strays from their original design without just cause. A character is not going to drastically change—in a normal setting—overnight. There must be a cause and effect for the change to happen. If the character is a rather slothful and lazy individual, but one day is suddenly very active with no explanation of this change, chances are, you’ve found a contradictory plot hole in your work.
III. Continuity Errors
These types of plot holes are consistency errors within the storyline itself (the plot), places, character personality types and knowledge, and objects. These inconsistencies show themselves in the details; a character having gray-green eyes in the first few chapters suddenly having brown eyes throughout the rest of the book, or a town being introduced as Ravenwood is later called Ravensport.
On a grander scale, character motivations can also show continuity errors. Say your character is going on a daring quest to avenge the death of their family, but halfway through, they begin to say and do things that don’t line up with their original motivation for the quest. If the change in motivation is not explained, readers will see it as a massive error that can make the character appear weak-minded or capricious.
IV. Unresolved Storylines
Forgotten and unresolved subplots of any kind in your book can leave the reader feeling unsatisfied, so make sure you tie up all those loose ends. If your book is part of a series, leaving some loose ends to flow over into the next book is okay—just make sure all the plot and subplots are resolved by the end of the series.
V. Factual Errors
Factual errors are often linked with continuity errors but have a stressed importance of factual-based evidence. One of my client’s books takes place in the early 1800s with ruffians and pirates, and while regency-era pirates don’t sound like an accurate storyline, it’s actually not wrong. Piracy was on the decline during the regency era but was by no means eradicated. Having an occasional run-in with murderous pirates was not an impossible occurrence, just rare.
How to Avoid (or Fix) Plot Holes
Now that you know what type of plot holes to look out for, here is how you’ll avoid (or fix) those nasty errors. The short answer here is you’ll have to do a lot of work—but don’t let that discourage you. As I said before, anything worth doing well takes time. Two common culprits of plot holes lie in the plot itself and character development. Both issues will need to be taken back to the drawing board to fix.
The key to ensuring you avoid plot holes is all in your pre-writing stage. If you skimp through that phase, you can expect to see the messy results later in your work. Here are a few things you can do early on to help avoid these mistakes.
I. Solid Pre-writing
The best way to avoid plot holes as much as possible is to make sure your pre-writing phase is finished in detail. When you outline and develop your book thoroughly, you can keep track of scenes and details, so you catch plot holes before they turn into craters. Do thorough research prior to doing much writing at all and keep a list of any specific questions you need to have answered for your story. These can include questions like the best method of dying fabric in the mid-1700s, or how to keep meat from spoiling during long journeys in pre-Civil War times. Make sure to ask similar questions when worldbuilding for fantasy or sci-fi novels. Read anything you can get your hands on concerning the topic, talk to experts, or visit new locations, if possible.
II. Make Timelines
Part of your pre-writing needs to be in creating timelines for all the events that take place in your book. This helps you keep track of when plot points and subplots are introduced, as well as see how they pan out through the course of the story. When writing, I keep a detailed timeline of day-by-day events (with dates!) for my stories. It’s lengthy, but it has saved me hours of rewriting and confusion when I have a readily available list I can check over before moving on to the next chapter.
III. Plot Lists
Keep a running list of the plot and subplots in your story. As soon as you get to a scene that adds a new subplot, write it down so that at the end of your book, you can see which plots were resolved and which ones weren’t. It’s best to have this broken-down chapter-by-chapter so you can easily keep track of where different plot points and subplots begin and end throughout the story.
IV. Remember Who Your Characters Are
As you develop your characters, you can recognize their personality when it shows up in a scene. To ensure consistency with your characters, create detailed character profiles and study their motivations, morals, values, traumas, fears, points of view, dreams, and desires. Understanding a character’s driving force or moral compass will help you stay on track with crafting plot consistency.
V. Outside Looking In
Enlist the help of beta-readers or an editor. Someone who hasn’t been slaving over the book like you have will be able to catch misplaced details, plot holes, and grammatical errors a lot easier than eyes that have gotten used to the text, which will save you a lot of headaches later on. If several people are mentioning the same issue, take note. It probably means it’s something you should fix prior to publishing the book.
VI. Take a Break in Between Drafts
Much like how having someone new read your book helps to catch plot holes and errors, so does taking a break from it yourself. After you finish writing—stop. Close the document, put the notebooks away, distance yourself from your manuscript for a while. Some authors only need a few days, some a few years. Coming back to your book with a rested mind is sometimes all you need in seeking out those messy plot holes before moving on to the second draft.
VII. Take Note
After you’ve finished your manuscript and taken a break, come back to your story and take notes. Write down all your questions, small details you overlooked, and anything specific you want to give more attention do in the second draft. Once you’re done, you’ll have a guide to show you what you need to fix and don’t.
That’s a Wrap
In the end, plot holes happen. The best thing to do as a writer is to be diligent when it comes to creating your story. Writing a book is much more detailed than simply getting words on a page; it’s an entire process of researching, drafting, creating character profiles, worldbuilding, and timeline and note keeping. You will not write a masterpiece in six weeks. There’s no reason to rush the process. Who are you competing against anyway? Take your time. Slow down. The beauty is in the details. Now, get to work.