Secrets To Writing

(7e) How To Find And Fix Plot Holes In Your Novel

Plot holes. We all know what they are: inconsistencies or gaps that defy logic in stories. And we all know they're entirely undesirable when it comes to writing a good novel.

Plot holes diminish the plausibility of a story and can have a huge effect on the way that story is viewed by readers. Your novel may be wonderfully written with great characters and an engaging plot – but leave one plot hole in there and, sadly, all your hard work may be undone.

So how can you tell if your story has plot holes? And if it does, how can you go about filling them in?

Let's dive into a step-by-step process for finding and fixing plot holes in your novel.

How to find plot holes

The first thing you need to do is to determine whether your story actually has any plot holes. This may sound easy, but as the author, it's likely that you're too close to your story to pick up on all the holes that may exist.

Here's how to make sure you don't miss anything.

1. Read back over your completed draft and take notes

Sounds obvious, but the first step is to start from the beginning and try to read your novel as a true reader would.

It is difficult to distance yourself, we know. But once you've finished your draft, set it aside for a while and try to come back to it refreshed and ready to read as objectively as possible.

(Important note: don't attempt to identify plot holes while you're still writing. Plot holes definitely fall under the banner of 'things not to worry about during your first draft'. Leave them until after you've completed your draft and are able to look at the whole picture.)

As you're reading, take notes on anything that could contribute to or be construed as a plot hole.

It could be as small as a character's eye or hair colour changing over the course of the story, or as significant as an event that couldn't possibly take place due to something else that has happened earlier in the book.

2. Go over your plot with a fine-toothed comb

This isn't the same as the read-through we talked about in step 1. This time around, you'll be focusing solely on the stripped-back plot of your novel to ensure it makes sense at its base level.

To do this, you'll first need to write out a simplified version of your plot. This is similar to the outline you may have created before you began writing your novel. Basically, it will be a list of all the events that happen in your novel.

To make things easier, you may wish to organise your overview into plots and subplots. (If your story is overly complicated, this could pose a problem in terms of plot holes – we'll talk more about this below.)

Once you've laid out the basics of your plot, it's time to look over it with a sharp, scrutinising eye. Ask yourself:

•  Does the plot actually make sense?

•  Does it flow logically from one event to another?

•  Are there any gaps or leaps that could be construed as plot holes?

•  Do any aspects of your plot contradict each other?

•  Is every question asked throughout your novel eventually answered? (If you're writing a series, the answer to this doesn't have to be 'yes' for every book – but by the end of the series as a whole, most if not all loose ends will ideally be tied up.)