How to Write a Book, Pt. 2: Plot Holes & Lectures

In the last article, we talked about worldbuilding. Now that you have built your world, you have to figure out what you want to tell with it. What do you want to talk about, comment on, criticize, or make your reader think about?

The plot is what lets you tell the story you want to tell. It is the events of your world and the ultimate effect on it. Your plot should be divided into points, events, or actions that move it subtly. An example of a plot point is your characters need X to go do Y. The point would be going and getting X. Think of the points as stories within stories. They can be less than a chapter or an entire book.

The number one mistake in plots is holes, and making it feel like a lecture. Disney is a great example of both. Disney Star Wars has been in decline since Kathleen Kennedy and J.J. Abrams took over from George Lucas. Not to say the original trilogy or prequels didn't have their own issues, but the Disney trilogy is a train wreck. There are a myriad of plot holes in the sequels, but here are a few: Luke Skywalker's exile, Starkiller base, the First Order, the holdo maneuver, Leia using the force, if Leia had the force, why didn't she use it? Hyperspace skipping, “They fly now?” C3P0 now knows Sith, the growth of the resistance, and Palpatine's return. The underlying principles in all of these plot holes are (a) they break already established rules, or (b) they are extreme feats with no explanation. If you establish a rule in whatever your magic, politics, or some other system, you can't just go and break that willy-nilly, or that system loses all respect. You can, however, break the rules effectively, but to do that, you either need to give a believable explanation, have some foreshadowing, or literally anything besides no explanation at all. A good example of breaking the rules is from Avatar: The Last Airbender. In which Toph invents Metal Bending, a subtype of Earthbending. They gave an explanation for why she could do it (because she was blind and had a connection to the earth), and it didn't break any rules. If Toph invented a type of firebending, it would be weird, break every rule of the bending system, go against her character, and be a massive plot hole. The core of plot holes is the fact that the writer got lazy and didn't want to put some effort into their story, and just needed something to happen without thinking about how or why.

The other issue is lecturism. The biggest example is Strange Worlds. Where the movie doesn't feel like a fun adventure commenting on climate change. Rather, it feels like a climate change lecture with Pixar animation. The writers were too lazy to create something unique and just assumed that the audience is dumb, which is the easiest way to lose an audience. And they just took their ideal takeaway from the movie and plastered that all over the movie with no care for subtlety.

When you screw up your plot, you end up like Strange World. No one remembers you, and those who do remember you as a bad story. If your plot is bad, you kill the legacy of your story. Legacies are the real impacts of stories. They are what allow your story to persist through time. Robin Hood was a great story, and while the author is forgotten, the story is not. By having a legacy, you allow yourself to become an inspiration for others, continuing the legacy of the story you set out to tell. Unlike a saint, you don't have to wait a while to have a legacy. Dune Part One was released a little less than five years ago, yet it holds the weight of a grandfather story. Dune was not solely built on its plot, yet that is its core pillar. Dune tells a good story in a good way and is therefore remembered. How many of you remembered Strange World? Because I certainly didn't.

The plot is the story itself. No matter how consuming your world is or how deep your characters are, if you don't use them to tell a meaningful story, all that was for waste.

To build a good plot is one of the hardest undertakings one could take as a writer. Every story will have a different story and message to tell, and therefore an infinite number of ways to do it right and wrong. Not every story will be good for everyone. Take, for example, Life of Pi in the freshman class. Personally, I enjoyed the book; however, the majority seems to disagree with this statement. Yann Martel tells an excellent story; there is very little to be criticized from a writing perspective. I enjoyed the fact that he writes how I write. However, I don't expect the world to conform to my crazy taste. Looking at Life of Pi, there is no plot hole that isn't explained away or justifiable under some artistic suspension of disbelief. He tells a story of hardship, the indomitable human spirit, and overcoming the impossible. What he didn't try to do was, at the same time, try and tell a story of environmental ruin and climate change along the way.

I can't give you a definitive one-way to write your plot because it's your story, your message, and therefore should not be under my influence. What I can tell you is that if you establish a rule previously, don't go and break it. And definitely don't go and lecture your audience, they aren't reading your book to hear about how climate change is ruining the environment. They are reading your book to hear the heartbreaking story of a polar bear in a warming Arctic.

In conclusion, don't lecture your audience, don't break established rules, tell your story how you want to tell it, and definitely try to tell a story first, not a message. The plot is the backbone of your story. It can not exist without one. You need to do this right, no matter how many tries it takes. Because a bad plot is how you end up like Strange World, broke and forgotten.