Does this happen to anyone else? The instant I figure out the solution to a plot hole, it just creates a new one. Then when I patch the next one, a new one pops up. Is there a point that you just accept that no story will be 100% bulletproof?
bulleproof? yes if that is the word you want. There is no set of rules or guidelines on how a story should appear or disappear. Write as you see fit and let it all happen it should all make sense eventually. Restrictions is a demotivator and so self analysis and worrying about how things/ideas turn out. Writing a story takes all sorts, twists and turns and that is why I like writing,because I never know what I am going to get or find. That is why I like writing,not because of what I write but because of how I write and the little adventures along the way that I stumble upon as I create words and stories. I see writing as painting a picture only I don't what might turn out at the end of it but I know that whilst I was paiting I enjoyed every movements/every stroke and every splash of colour I have mixed or not and the new ones I came up with. Writing is more then just the story it is evrything before, during and after and for this very reason Iwill take my time.
This does happen to a lot of people. I can't remember a specific instance of it happening to me but I'm sure there are examples. Tvtropes even has an article on it, called voodoo shark. Mentioning Tvtropes I think it's a great example of how no story is completely immune to these things no matter how much you work on it. All the works listed there have entire pages dedicated to the plotholes and things that don't match up and I can tell you, even the most respected of works have absolutely oodles of examples.
This happens to me a lot, maybe because I write sci-fi. Sometimes plotholes are an easy fix that you can change right away, but other times you need to let them go. In my seperate document that I use for notes, I have a whole section devoted to the unsolved plotholes of my story. About once every few days I read through it and see if I can think of anything new. Sometimes, when you let them build up like this, you will get an idea that fixes not just one, but several. I had one that fixed four plotholes in one swoop, it was beautiful. Just keep writing, and your story will make more and more sense.
This is where you need some friends to read the story and make notes of problems or things that didn't flow. Then, all of you sit down and brainstorm out the problems. I've found that if you keep at it the holes get smaller and smaller and then disappear. So I say keep working at it but then I can't imagine spending the time to write a novel and then being okay with good enough. Hm, that makes me sound like a perfectionist. Thankfully that isn't a plot hole.
I'm probably pretty stupid about this, but I don't see plot holes in my stories. I like to think that's because I start with characters in situations, and let them work their way out, thus creating a plot, but that might not be true. It might be that I'm just blind to plot holes in my stories. I've had several people read my stuff and they've never mentioned plot holes either, with the exception of one short story I wrote that had a glaring hole in it, but it was easy to fix. I didn't see it, though, until others brought it to my attention.
Welcome to writing, where we are all problem solves in some form or another. Just go with what you feel works for you, if you need validation try posting an excerpt in the reviewing section to get some feedback.
Well, If that doesnt happen, what's the fun in writing then? This is what makes us writer's high without a drop of alcohol! And anyways, different minds work differently. If you think your story is "bulletproof", suddenly out of nowhere another mind will pop up shattering this notion of yours.
Sometimes, plot holes do exist. There will be something that's happening that can't possibly happen because... whatever. However, keep these two things in mind: 1) The Reader Only Knows What You Tell Them. If you have a character who finds himself in a life-or-death situation, and he pulls out a gun to effect his escape, there's a potential for the reader to say, "Where the hell did he get a gun from?" If you've already established that the character carries a gun, or show him picking it up off a corpse, or whatever, this won't happen, but if you fail to mention a gun at all, the reader is left wondering. If a plot hole like this comes up, just go back and fill in the details. 2) Life Seldom Makes Sense From One Point of View. Remember that you're telling your story from one point of view: the narrator's. Rarely is a story written in the third-person omniscient, so you're typically only showing what's happening to one character, and the characters that he's directly interacting with. In life, you are experiencing everything from one point of view, so you rely on other people to tell you what's happening when you aren't around. The same is true of your story; if things are happening when your main character isn't around, you either need to show them, or let your secondary characters talk about them. There may still be things that don't make sense. Again, in life things don't always make sense. Your character just has to make his best judgement and follow through on it. If it turns out weird, so be it. Of course, there may be things that you've explicitly said that later are contradicted. If you run across things like that, try to even them out as much as possible. If you have a character saying that he doesn't know Chinese, but later he's speaking Chinese, have someone comment on it. Maybe he was lying earlier. If you have a character that dies, but then shows up in a minor role later on, change his name in one instance, or make it so that his death was faked. Maybe you make a big deal out of a character losing some item, but she needs it later on. Figure out how she found it, or enhance the drama by hammering home that she doesn't have it and needs to either find it or improvise something. There's always a way out of plot holes. Decide what kind of hole it is, then decide if it could be attributed to point of view or lack of knowledge, or if it needs to be patched up.
I had this problem before, when I needed my plot to be "perfect", with every fact triple checked; no glaring discrepancies like the ones we usually find in the more popular forms of fiction writing; no spelling or grammatical errors. Then I realized that I'd worried about the more trivial points so much that I'd completely lost my train of thought as to how I wanted the story to progress. Just focus on the bigger picture & don't waste time worrying about the little things. Then, after all the important work is done, seek a second & third opinion from someone whose opinion you value. Simple, right?
Practice critiquing. Once you have a better handle on analyzing why a change is needed, you will find yourself not making as many questionable revisions. Take the time to decide whether you are really making a needed change, or merely addressing a symptom of the real weak point.
Hi, For me plotholes are one of the joys of writing. Finding them, fixing them, finding a few more. It's like writing a riddle and then solving it. And the important thing to remember about them is that the more complex your book is, the more you're likely to find, so what you're probably finding is that your book is multilayerd with interwoven characters and timelines and lots of characters with their own agendas. I like books like that. Cheers, Greg.
