All About Plot Holes and How to Avoid Them!

 Hello everyone! Hope you’re all doing well! I’m finally back with a new blog post! Todays post is going to be all about plot holes and how to avoid them!

So, what exactly is a plot hole? A plot hole is an inconsistency or gap that goes against the flow of your story, or contradicts something you’ve previously written.  Unfortunately, plot holes can hurt your professional reputation as a writer and are very time consuming to fix.
 
Plot holes happen to the best of us, and taking the time to go through your story to find and fix plot holes, is essential. In my experience, plot holes usually happen for two main reasons.

Sometimes a writer has a strong vision for a scene and even if the scene makes no sense, they write it anyway. I’m sure anyone whose ever written fiction is guilty of this at some point. 

The second main reason for plot holes occurs when the writer forgets something they’ve previously written and go on to write something that contradicts it, without realizing. 

Plot holes often confuse readers and many times the actual writer!  Here are a few tips and tricks on how to avoid plot holes in your writing!

If you are creating a fictional universe write down the rules, laws, or facts that are relevant in your own universe. For example, in The Crystal Chronicles there are five types of Elementals, but only four main elements – earth, air, fire and water. In TCC only an Orchin can control all four elements. This is fact in the TCC universe and nothing can contradict this rule.

When you write a chapter or a scene find a fresh pair of eyes to look over your work. We, as writers, often miss plot holes in our own work because we reread our own material dozens of times over. Grabbing someone who can point out any inconsistencies really helps – other people usually catch the plot holes we would never catch!

If you are writing a longer story or a novel, leave your work untouched for a few days and reread it from the beginning to the point you are working on. When we write longer pieces, we often get tangled up in the current part we are writing. Sometimes, we forget the things that we mentioned in the beginning of the story! It’s always good to refresh your memory on the things that you wrote previously! You’re more likely to catch inconsistencies in your work if you read it as a whole! 

Plot holes are something we all have to keep in mind, especially those of us writing longer pieces! In the end, leaning how to fix them makes us better storytellers! Hopefully keeping these tips in mind will help you guys avoid those annoying plot holes! Happy writing everybody!
 
Before I wrap this post up, I am very excited to announce that I am running my first ever giveaway through Goodreads! The giveaway will be open to readers living in the United States and Canada! I will be giving away two signed softcover copies of my novel! The giveaway ends August 30th and if you’re interested please check out the link below:
 
 https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/195124-the-crystal-chronicles
 
Thanks for reading and until next time,
 
Alessia Dickson