When your Plot Unravels

My plot unravelled. In my work closest to querying/publication, my plot has completely unravelled. My timeline is off, my characters aren’t working, the atmosphere isn’t as palpable as I need it to me. While things aren’t easy for my main character, there are other things that are given to her that shouldn’t be.

Source.

As I face this unravelling, I have undergone the stages of grief, specifically the Kübler-Ross model.

Denial – Per Wikipedia this is when “the person is trying to shut out the reality or magnitude of his/her situation, and begins to develop a false, preferable reality.” Spot on. Yup, a few things weren’t right but I just tried to keep working with the book like it wouldn’t really be a problem. Like a simple edit, changing a date in an edit. Slowly I began to graduate out of this stage and realize it wouldn’t be enough to really fix what I needed to fix.
Anger – “The individual recognizes that denial cannot continue.” Thanks Wikipedia. Yeah, I faced the building problems and realized that the quick fix I had in mind was a fallacy. It was not going to work. I blamed myself, mostly. How had I not seen these issues? Why did I not pick up on the wrongness of the situation sooner in the draft?
Bargaining – “The negotiation for an extended life is made with a higher power in exchange for a reformed lifestyle.” So if I change this one earlier scene, can I keep these four consecutive chapters of what I have written? Surely those portions that don’t directly talk about this one problem are okay. Right?
Depression – “The idea of living becomes pointless. Things begin to lose meaning to the griever. Because of this, the individual may become silent, refuse visitors and spend much of the time crying and sullen. This process allows the grieving person to disconnect from things of love and affection, possibly in an attempt to avoid further trauma.” So I was pretty much a moping mess. Friends offered to look at it to see if it was that bad but, at first, I refused. When I finally asked Jessica to look, I became even more depressed, determined that she would find my writing so awful it would be unsalvageable. I avoided writing fiction, determined that my unravelled plot would infect all my works.
Acceptance – “Individuals begin to come to terms with their inevitable future. [...] This typically comes with a calm, retrospective view for the individual, and a stable mindset.” I started to poke index cards, writing the names of scenes in my book. At first I clung to the possibility that I could just reorder the scenes (bargaining). But when I wrote down my first idea for a new scene that would convey the societal atmosphere I felt my work was missing, I understood. I accepted that I needed to change the book. Some scenes would live again, but not all. I knew it had to change.

So while these were the steps of grieving my unravelled plot, there was one more step that the above section was missing.

Confidence. Beyond acceptance, this is the step where I know the changes being planned are essential and that the story can only improve with the changes. With a positive outlook, I understand that I can make these changes, grow as a writer, and I will have a better book. I can’t go back to the book how it was before–I know too much about the issues and can only move forward.

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