How to Eliminate Confusion from Your Story

How many times have you started a book and wondered what was going on, or reached the climax of the big battle only to be hopelessly lost?

And what about when the big reveal happens, the characters are acting like the entire world changed, and you’re just scratching your head, pondering if you misread something or skipped an important page?

Confusion is not a feeling readers like, and it’s not an outcome any writer wants. But just as it happens in the books we read, it can also happen in the books we write. Trouble is, we might not notice it as we’re crafting our story.

Thankfully, there are a few items to keep an eye out for as you edit that can help kill any confusion that sneaks into your story, and they’re listed right here!

How to Eliminate Confusion from Your StoryWeed Out the Excessive Vague Mystery

Any kind of story can benefit from a little mystery, but where the mystery tips into confusion territory is when you’re excessively vague about it.

It’s understandable. You’re only in the first half of the book, and you don’t want to give away all the secrets yet. So, you vaguely mention a glowing orb being important. Then, a few chapters later, you touch on it again, but you don’t build on it. You keep things too vague right until the big reveal. By this point, the reader knows barely anything about the mysterious orb, so when it becomes the savior of the story, they’re just confused about why something only vaguely hinted at is the one thing that turns everything around.

Don’t keep your readers in the dark. Instead, use vague mystery once, followed by more hints and solid info, and then the reveal. It makes for a better reading experience, and you won’t confuse anyone.

Replace Sparse Details with Specifics

As a writer who has spent endless hours working out the story details in your head, and then countless months writing and editing the words to bring those details to life, you might find it hard to believe that anything is confusing.

But as the person who has thought through and thought up all those details, you’d be surprised how many of the little details get lost on the way from your brain to the page.

In your head, you see an intriguing back and forth amongst fully realized characters in a fancy hotel room, but the page says…

Sparse example:

The man looked out the window at the trees below before turning back into the hotel room and addressing his visitor.
“Did you bring the device with you?”
He patted his pocket, leaning forward in the chair as he retrieved it and put it on the table between them.
“It’s good to go.”

It’s not exactly confusing, but it’s not great either. The sparse details fail to inform the reader about the characters or where they are, giving them little reason to care about what’s happening.

If a reader doesn’t care about what is happening, attention lags. If the reader then needs to know that the device is important, or that it’s a big deal that “Man” and “Visitor” met, but have forgotten them because of sparse details, it’s only going to lead to confusion.

Let’s try the same passage with specific details….

Specific example:

Jack looked through the smudged pane of the window to the black birch trees swaying in the paved courtyard below. Turning back into the neat hotel room, he focused away from the gaudy gold trim embellishing the walls and narrowed his gaze on Carl.
“Did you bring the device with you?”
Carl patted the right breast pocket of his soft blue overcoat with a gloved hand, leaning forward in the wingback chair as he retrieved the square box and placed it on the glass top of the grand table between them.
“It’s good to go.”

Just by adding the specific details of character names, what they’re wearing, and more info about their surroundings, the small section is already more interesting and memorable.

While you might think you’d never have a sparse paragraph like the first example in a final draft, never bet against months of writing and rereading making you blind to a lack of details. Ensure you’re on top of it by double-checking your chapters and replacing sparseness with specifics to cut out any potential confusion.

Journey Into the Character’s Head

While no rule says you have to use internal thoughts when writing a story, it can really keep confusion at bay.

After all, if you don’t include the thought process of your MC driving his car across a flooded road, he’s going to look like an idiot, and your reader is going to be confused about why your previously smart, play-it-safe MC is now being an idiot. But, if you let the reader in on the character’s inner thoughts about knowing the right side of the road is raised enough to get him across safely, his decision makes sense.

Allowing readers into your character’s head regarding what they’re doing, saying, and why they’re interacting with the world in the way they are helps to explain things, which is only going to eliminate confusion, not cause it.

Combine those internal thoughts with specific details and no excessive mystery, and you should be able to cut as much confusion from your story as you can. It’s a win for you as a writer and a win-win for your readers.

— K.M. Allan

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