Plot Recovery Tools – Reknitting an Unravelled Plot

After last week’s plot fallout, I decided that I should write a follow-up post about the plot recovery tools I used to not only recover, but thrive, and get back in the game.

I decided that this was not the time for bandaids, bridging together existing pieces. I already had bandaids all over the work. It was time to rip them off, no matter how painful, and see how the result shook out.

Source

Step 1: Brandish the Scene Notecards

I went old school to start solving my issue. I needed to ditch what I had already build and start fresh. Little is more refreshing than pulling out index cards and penning scene titles onto them.

But this wasn’t the time to mark out everything I had that didn’t work. This was the time to pull out the pliers and pry out the scenes that just weren’t working to establish what I wanted.

Almost immediately, I wrote the title to a new scene and knew, “Yes, I need this scene. This will make the book stronger.” In response, I chucked out the weak scene that had been present (a previous bandaid).

I made a rough outline that I liked, and moved onto step two.

Step 2: Murder by Plot Junkies

I am very lucky to have two editors in my life that are willing to stab things with no mercy for my feelings. Charming, I know. One is the pint-size “Crusher of Dreams”, fellow Inkette Jessica Corra. Another is Ella Beaumont, assistant editor at Edge. During a session at Write Club YYC, Jessica relentlessly impaled scene after scene, looking to string plot threads together, identify turning points, and forcing me to address the weaknesses in my previous draft. Ella looked on and pointed out with absolutely sincerity, “And that’s where they kiss.” *headdesk* Fine! Emotional attachment scene will happen!

At the end of write club, I had a deck of index cards, plotted, paced, and ready.

Step 3: Character Map

There was one more thing to do to make sure that I had enough balance in the new plot: characters. I had to make sure that my key players were evenly spaced throughout the narrative, recurring enough to not be forgotten. I maked down who was in each scene, lined up the bottom of my index cards and looked over it with Jessica to see if there were any issues.

Of course, there were still issues.

In the end, I axed a character (sorry, Grandpa!) to strengthen another (heya Grandma!). I recurred her role again, more than I thought I could. Increased an offstage role of a main character, and really firmed up the plan for this book.

In the end…

I am much happier with how my plot is working now. I mean, it’s no longer a mass of bandaids on top of bandaids. I doesn’t feel like it’s had an extended plot-hospital stay.

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