Plot Holes

Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story, or so the saying goes.

But what about plot holes?  Are they a pet peeve of yours?  Do they break immersion?  Or, like Wile E. Coyote, just don’t look down, and it’ll be ok?

Tastes vary from one person to the next, so I think that the most universal definition of a good story is: did you like it?  And, would you recommend it to someone else?

One can enjoy a story despite plot holes large or small.  Some of the favorite stories from my formative years are filled with plot holes and inconsistencies that I’ve only recently started to notice.  I still love the stories, but I also think about how those plot holes could have been closed with some impromptu edits.

How then to spot the plot holes in our own writing?  As writers, we may be so enamored with a dramatic moment or cool scene that we forget (or set aside) the laws of physics, thresholds of human endurance, or ground rules that we established in earlier chapters.

We’ve all come across the fearsome monster that lurks in an old, sealed catacomb and yet remains surprisingly healthy despite not eating in years, or the experienced time traveler who inexplicably stops time traveling even as the present predicament deepens.  One or two sentences in either case could patch these plot holes.  In these examples, how would you choose to resolve these issues?  Addressing these issues sometimes has more to do with worldbuilding than the plot of the story.

For me, having a deep understanding of the characters and overall world is first line of defense.  What are the characters’ motivations, and what do they know?  What is going on in the broader world?  How quickly or slowly does word spread about events?

In writing the second book in the Ardalencor series, I had Sir Crowiler Herring, the Tigerclaw of Ardalencor, the country’s greatest swordsman, deliver news of a dire situation to another group.  At first, I wrote the scene as Crowiler’s arrival being the first time this group had heard of the situation.  Then I considered what else was going on in the setting, in the world, and realized there was no way the other group had zero information about what was unfolding.  But, what did they actually know?  Maybe they only had partial information and therefore misinterpreted what was really happening?  So, Crowiler can still deliver a key piece of information, but the reaction of the group shouldn’t be one of total ignorance. 

Sir Crowiler is the star of the chapter, but I also had to consider what is the perspective of the secondary, even tertiary, characters to get the vibe right.

Re-reading as you write the first draft also helps to maintain cohesion versus waiting until all chapters are drafted to revisit earlier chapters which may have been written months before.

Keep an eye out for plot holes.  They often don’t require too much work to patch.

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