Journeys in Writing

How to solve plot problems

For example:

1. Falls in love, has sex, gets pregnant

        a. I like this because it's romantic and it's what I would wish for this character.

        b. but I don't think it would work because she isn't the type to fall in love, plus her character is ostracized by this community and I can't imagine anyone breaking the social code and falling in love with her.

Do this with all of your potential solutions. Try to be open-minded. Don't just dismiss any potential solution. Remember, the solution IS there, you just need to find it, and for some reason you can't see it. It's like looking for your car keys that you KNOW you haven't lost, but you can't find them anywhere. This technique is like suddenly looking down and seeing that your keys are on the coffee table and they've been there all along. You were looking in the wrong place.

STEP 3

Okay, so now you have your list of potential solutions, but you also have a bunch of reasons for why each solution might work and might not work. This is where it gets interesting.

Hit enter below each explanation of each solution (why it works and doesnt work), and you will create another bullet. Indent this bullet in once. It's important to use bullets because, as you can see, your page is getting full of writing, and the bullets are the only way to visually track your progress. So indent the next bullet once, to show that you're talking about the paragraph above (about why it works and doesn't work). 

For each reason that doesn't work, create ANOTHER indented bullet and brainstorm all the possible ways to get around it -- how you can MAKE it work.

For example:

1. Falls in love, has sex, gets pregnant

        a. I like this because it's romantic and it's what I would wish for this character.

        b. but I dont think it would work because she isn't the type to fall in love, plus her character is ostracized by this community and I can't imagine anyone breaking the social code and falling in love with her.
                        * Maybe she changes. BUT HOW? I mean, what would cause her to change?
                        * Maybe she meets someone who is an outsider like her. BUT IT'S A CLOSED SOCIETY, SO HOW WOULD SOMEONE GET IN?
                        * Maybe someone hypnotizes her or gives her a love potion. THAT'S RETARDED, IT'S NOT THE KIND OF STORY I'M WRITING, BUT MAYBE IT COULD WORK, BUT HOW?
                        * Maybe she hits her head, gets amnesia, and forgets that she's a cold-hearted bitch. YEAH RIGHT... Sounds like Days of our Lives.
               

STEP 4

Go through all of your solutions like this. You've reached the third layer deep. By this time, you're going to have lots and lots of ideas floating around. You probably have at least 1 page of bulleted writing. Some of the potential solutions will feel 'right' and you might have had your aha moment already. It just clicked. But sometimes the aha moment hasn't come because the solution to the problem you really like is tied in with other plotlines, and giving you OTHER problems. So, now you need to work through those....

If that's the case, see above how I wrote new questions/problems in ALL CAPS? That's because I want to be able to see them easily. Being able to visualize the problems and solutions in this way really helps me keep track of what is clearly a rabbit hole of information. Besides using bullets and ALL CAPS, I will also often highlight with green the solutions that seem the most promising. And pink for the the problems that I still have to solve.

If you haven't had your aha moment, don't worry. Yes this is taking time, but believe me, if you persist you will find your solution. THE solution that works for YOUR story.

So, take the questions in ALL CAPS, and start an entirely new paragraph. If you want, you can create a new bullet below each paragraph and indent it to deal with the ALL CAP questions/problems, but I prefer a new paragraph to have a fresh start. I use a heading for the new problem so it stands out. You can deal with one problem at a time, or you can copy all the the ALL CAP problems and create new paragraphs so you don't forget to explore them. Then do the whole exercise over again. Come up with 3-5 possible solutions for each of your new problems, but obviously only if you feel the problem has merit and deserves a solution.

I won't keep going with examples, because I hope you catch my drift. 

By this point you'll be 4 layers deep into your novel and I can guarantee that you will be learning stuff through this that you never thought you would, related to completely different characters and completely different plot problems because -- it's all connected. 

So, good luck, and hope this technique helps you as much as it has helped me! Please let me know how I can improve this document, or if my technique works for you, or if you don't understand.

Unfortunately, Wattpad doesn't have bullet capabilities, so it's difficult to see how the bullets work. I've posted a Solving Plot Problems Template on my website, and it might be helpful to download it to get a better idea. See the link associated with this post.