53 thoughts on “Unsnagging Your Plot”

1. JSB –
   Your “blazing first draft” strategies are brilliant! I’ve never come across these suggestions before.
   Crafting effective transitions, story/scene-vibe congruent descriptions, and organic/immersive emotional reveals is challenging and time-intensive for me. Page marking (e.g. ***describe reckless race through storm to save kidnapped woman) those spots/creative tasks for completion after first draft framework completed jumps out at me as a great idea. I foresee a faster and better overall process.
   I’m currently recovering from a health deal and eager to get cranking on book #4 in my suspense-thriller series – these tips have ratcheted my writing-passion catapult to the maximum and have me even more excited to launch!
   I’m definitely going to use these steategies in executing my draft.
   A particularly great post for me.
   Thank you!

   • Glad you’re on the mend, Tom, and are excited about getting back to the keyboard. That excitement will show up on the page. Have at it!

2. Good post.

   Since you asked, when I get snagged in a novel (usually about the 2/3 point), I just trust the character and write the next sentence. Though sometimes I have to calm myself and remind myself to do that. (grin)

   Most of my scenes are about 1100 words (800 to 1300) and take me about an hour to write. I take a few-minute break after each writing session, which is also about an hour. When I return for the next session, I read back over what I wrote in the previous session, allowing my characters to add what I missed, including any necessary foreshadowing, etc.

   I too like your blazing first draft suggestion, but probably from a different direction. I’ve tried leaving an all-caps note and skipping ahead, but for me personally it doesn’t work. When I did that (again, just for me) I found myself mired in trying to “figure out” (conscious, critical mind) what to add and I was bogged down further.

   I suppose every novel I write is a blazing first draft. My second draft is an automated spell check, and my third is to make any corrections that I agree with when I get the manuscript back from my first-reader or copyeditor.

   Of course, not everyone writes like I do, and that’s fine. I’m passing along your post to the writers who follow my daily Journal.

   • I used to hit a snag (I called it a wall) at about the 30k mark. I’d heard about other writers having the same thing. Not sure why. All that novel ahead? Wondering if the foundation is strong enough? The answer was, as you suggest, “write the next sentence.” I always got past it eventually. Then I started doing a 20k “step back,” where I made sure all my foundational elements (e.g., death stakes, first doorway of no return, compelling lead character) were where they needed to be.

     • Jim – this is often where I hit my first snag – I always go back as it’s often a foundational issue that I need to get right before I move on:)

       • It really is quite common, Clare, as your comment indicates. Things turn out so much better when you have the right foundation.

3. I’m 3K words into a new novel, a romantic suspense. I have a hero and heroine, although I don’t know a lot about them yet. I love these reminders and suggestions. Right now, my characters are headed into the basement of a house the heroine inherited. No clue what they’ll find. I’ll try making a “what if” list and see (because last night, the “boys in the basement” must have been hiding from the invasion of the characters and were no help at all.

   • Ah, those boys…sometimes they take a donut break and forget to get back to work. Happy listing!

4. I use Word’s yellow highlighter for places that need work so they jump out as I scroll through the ms.

   Several years ago, I learned about “shadow story” from you. That has been the single most useful tip for troubleshooting plot snags. What is the bad guy doing offstage while the hero is muddling around? When I figure out what the bad guy is plotting and why, then I know what the hero needs to do, even if s/he doesn’t know it yet.

   Thanks, Jim, for your always-practical solutions. You make it look easy 🙂

   • Thanks, Debbie. The shadow story idea was a great breakthrough for me, too, when I first started thinking about it. I love keeping track of it in the document notes section of Scrivener. Really helps with scene writing.

     • You taught me to be a better writer and K.M. Weiland introduced me to Scrivener. God bless you both. Thank you for sharing your writing knowledge . You made my writing come alive.

   • I do both the capitalized text reminders and the yellow highlighter to help me find the places I need to work on later.

     Thanks so much Jim for the rest of your tips and reminders. Perfect timing as that’s exactly where I am in my WIP, 2/3 of the way and stuck on how to get through. I’m going to try the “shadow story” method first. I love that idea.

     • Today seems to be a day when the need and the info have showed up together. Thanks for the good word!

5. This technique sounds suspiciously like the Hegelian synthesis between the plotter thesis and the pantser antithesis.

   It also suggests a strategy that could justify my doing NaNoWriMo. I’ve resisted because I didn’t want to be stuck with a huge, unmanageable hairball.

   Finally, I wonder if this approach risks tilting the resulting novel too much in the direction of plot at the expense of character?

   • Indeed, this is a great approach to NaNoWriMo. See the Janice Hardy post I mentioned at the end.

     I wonder if this approach risks tilting the resulting novel too much in the direction of plot at the expense of character?

     That’s a great question, Eric. And to answer is, let’s ask two others: What is true character? How is it revealed in a story?

     I say PLOT reveals true character. We don’t know who the real Scarlett is until the Civil War hits. We don’t know what Bosch is made of until he’s confronted with a sordid, cold case that hits him in the heart.

     Thus, with a blazing first draft, you are focusing on the way plot hits character. Then, when you go back to deepen and fill things out, you have a better understanding of HOW to fill things out.

6. Ooo, I like the shadow story idea! I’m a plotter to the max, so I’m not sure a blazing draft to discover the plot would work for me. But I’ve used mind mapping during the outlining process to figure out plot points.

   • Priscilla, there’s nothing inherently antithetical about the blazing draft vis-a-vis outlining. It’s just that as you proceed, you might choose to leave off describing certain things, or puzzling over how to show character emotion in scene, etc. You want to get to the end of the book and have a better picture of your entire draft.

     It’s not a plotter v. pantser issue. It’s a speed issue.

     • Ahh, I see. Thanks.

7. At first I read the part about transitions, aka the “SAM GETS TO THE OTHER SIDE OF MANHATTAN, BUT IT ISN’T EASY.” and was thinking, “Yeah, but if that transition indeed wasn’t easy for the character, then you may not have clarity on the character emotionally when you get to the next scene.

   But I see you anticipated that with “Skip deep emotional beats.” 😎

   Sometimes I skip sections & go on with the rest of the writing and it works. Sometimes I just stay hung up for a while till I figure it out. And unfortunately, there are some book ideas with snags that have been sitting, waiting on me for ages.

   So given my choice, I’d much rather use the blazing draft method than have manuscripts sit in the computer ‘drawer’ indefinitely.

   • BK, that’s a great point I hadn’t thought of. We all have those old manuscripts sitting in a drawer (oops, showing my age)…in a digital file. Why not take a week and blaze through it? I’d make sure to reconnect with what got me started, get that spark back. But then put the spark to the fuel and explode! (Ray Bradbury would approve.)

8. Wow, Jim. I love this post! Not only is it filled with brilliant advice, but it confirmed my process. Janice’s post is also fantastic.

   Often, especially while on deadline, I’ll insert a comment box in Word that reads “add emotion” or whatever it is I’m skipping. In my WIP, I hit a snag yesterday and stepped away to list the exact steps of my hero. I’d planned where she ended up (I actually wrote the ending first), but the plot took an unexpected twist and I needed to find a way to bring it all together. It’s like you read my mind with this post. Thank you!

   • I love it when the Vulcan Mind Meld happens, Sue!

9. Maybe your blazing draft idea is what I need right now. I think it might play well with my both-ends-against-the-middle solution to getting things rolling.

   My reputation at home is as the writer with 1,000 first chapters. To move the story further along, I find it helpful to write the resolution, one or two chapters at the end tying off loose ends and placing the whole cast in the conditions I want. If I use that resolution as a general target for a blazing draft, the snags might be minimized–or at least easier to manage.

   You’ve talked about shadow story before, but the concept hits me at a particularly sticky juncture, and I realize I need to flesh out my antagonist’s story apace. Most timely, sir.

   As usual, your nuggets of practical solutions strike me at an opportune moment. Thanks for these. My ore cart is full to overflowing with JSB gold.

   • Dan, I can relate to the 1000 first chapter idea. Openings are easy. Endings are hard! I have huge file of first lines. All I need is a novel after them.

     I like your suggest of sketching out the climactic scene so you have a destination to shoot for. That’s always subject to change without notice, of course, but at least gives you a direction.

10. Your topics always show up when I need them. I’m in my final developmental draft looking for plot snags. I’ve used the shadow story and skip-ahead before, but the blazing draft is new, and here’s why it will work next time:

    I labored in sequential, linear, emotional hell for two years heading toward some kind of high-tech villain trap involving a self-driving car. When I finally got there, I sent the draft to my auto GPS-designer son, who had just seen the exact trap on TV. Now my fun, emotional, autonomous car set-up scenes (plot snags) don’t go anywhere. Next time, using the blaze draft and then using my new EMOTIONAL THESAURUS will speed up the process and get me to the finish line before my cutting-edge tech ideas become status quo. Thanks.

    • Always happy to help a writer out of hell, Nancy. You’ll love the Emotion Thesaurus….

11. I used the blazing trail approach recently. I was determined to finish my novel draft by Christmas but I got sick, was delayed, and thought I’d never make it. Christmas eve afternoon, I sat down and started writing. And writing. And ended up trail blazing through the last 7K+ words in a few hours. Some of the scenes are skimpy (mostly me saying what needs to happen and little snatches of dialogue or action) but I got through. It helped that I’d written (longhand!) the end scenes for both POV characters, so I basically knew where the plot was going just not all the specifics. And it felt really good to not have the unfinished manuscript hanging over me on Christmas.

    • That’s a great report, Meredith. I relate to the idea of not having anything “hanging” over Christmas. It’s a natural time to rest and reflect. Good job.

12. Thanks for the post, Jim. It appears that it was a timely topic for many of us. I am currently backing out of a snag, so this is really helpful. Thanks for the link to Janice Hardy’s blog.

    I use the old fashioned “step-sheet” (James Frey) after I have the outline. I’ve kept it in a notebook in the past, but this year I’m trying One Note. I have Scrivener on only one computer, and don’t have that with me all the time. Now, wherever I am, if there’s access to internet, I can work on plot ideas and revisions. I like the idea of the blazing first draft.

    I assume you write that in Scrivener, then revise from there.

    I’m going to shift into blazing fast overdrive, and give it a try.

    Thanks!

    • Right, Steve. I draft in Scrivener then spit out a Word doc for revision.

      Re:step sheets, I first trained as a screenwriter using 3 x 5 cards on a corkboard, which Scrivener allows me to do onscreen. I can move them around and look for different patterns.

      Use whatever helps!

13. I’m not sure my obsession over details would allow me to “blaze a first draft.” I have a rolling edits process that helps me dig into the emotional journeys of my characters & explore twists in motivation that could influence the plot. It also satisfies my need to edit as I go.

    Your ideas are definitely intriguing & tempting though.

    I often use the skip ahead method. And my initial “Turning Points W-Outline” leaves gaps in transition that can be a challenge to fill in, making the gaps tempting to set aside for later. It takes confidence to leave gaps & a thorough process to insure those holes get filled later.

    Have you ever written a screenplay (dialogue only) format for a full novel as an initial framework? I’ve heard some writers start with a full screenplay, then go back to fill in the rest to make a novel. I can see how this might be good for writers who might sell a screenplay AND a novel, as separate. I’ve read a few screenplays & good ones really trigger the imagination. They can provide a great initial structure for a novel. And imagining/writing scenes with dialogue can be a way to blaze a novel.

    • A screenplay really is like a blazing draft, isn’t it? Dialogue heavy, and quick transition between scenes. Since I started as a screenwriter, I always “see” my novel that way, which is one reason I use the singpost scenes idea the corkboard visual. I have a template in Scrivener for those 14 scenes.

      You bring up an interesting point, Jordan, about editing the previous day’s work. I do that myself. I can see blazing through that, too!

      • This is really encouraging, Jim. I see my novels like movies too…in scenes & turning points. I’ve been tempted to write a screenplay as a first pass & fill it in to make the novel portion.

        That would define the essential elements in a bare bones fashion. Everything in between would be embellishments. I might have to try this for a novella.

        You are an inspiration, Jim. Thank you.

        • Thanks for the good word, Jordan!

14. My strategy for snags is yo ask this question: What is the worst thing that can happen to the MC? (Not allowed to kill him/her.) I usually scribble down six or eight options each getting more and more far out. Number five or six is usually the one that works and is surprising. It usually works and results in a memorable (if hope) scene.
    Now with the blaze ahead tactic I have another tool in the writer’s box. Thanks. As usual I learn something new when you write.

    • Brian, I do the same thing. A list of bad things. Never lets me down!

15. Your advice about going to one’s shadow story is interesting to me. I find that my own shadow story usually comes from the back story of my work. (I’m convinced, after reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, that back story is a much maligned part of our work, disparaged by many, but it usually [as in virtually every time] comes to my rescue.

    I wrote awhile back that I was running into a story problem that needed a buddy to solve. There was no room for her in the present story, so I wrote a short story and likely will be putting it out on Kindle (because my publisher looked at it, about the way a new Dad looks at a dirty diaper, and suggested, as Jack Webb would have in the DI, that he didn’t want to deal with it). But now, with a clear conscience–hey, it’s not my fault, dear reader, that you didn’t want to spend the $1.99 to read about her–I can go on with my main story and not have a deus ex machina drop out of the sky. (I wonder if, in the Roman theater, someone ever actually dropped a deux ex machina, thereby ending the play waaayy too soon.)

    So I have had the shadow story concept tattooed on my arm to remind me. No I didn’t. I do have it tattooed in my mind, and I thank you for conceptualizing it, naming it so I can reach in a pick it out and use it, as necessary. (And sometimes, it’s necessary a lot.)

    • Backstory is great, Jim, and gives us a lot of plot fodder. The issue there is when to do it and how to weave it into the story (so as not to bog things down). We can do a bunch of it before we start writing (I prefer doing selective backstory, focusing on key years in the C’s life) or get to a point in the novel where the character does something that needs justification, then can come up with it on the fly. So many possibilities….

16. If you don’t want to write a scene, odds are that your reader won’t want to read it. Unless that scene in the car involves important plot AND character points, toss it out.

    For those of us who are organic writers where character, emotion, and plot grow together, skipping scenes can be a disasterous strategy which can lead to writer’s block or the lose of plot momentum. Those who write character and plot mixes like cozies and romantic suspense are almost always organic writers. Police procedurals and thrillers, more often not.

    Writing out the bad guys’ backstory and forward story is always a good idea. Making bad guys handy little plot puppets whose plot makes no sense whatsoever is one of the biggest mistakes I seen when I work with newer writers. Also, because he’s a psychopath and they do weird things is a very poor plot reason. Even psychos have reasons. They also have weakness like their desire to play with their victims which gives the rescuers or the victims time to defeat him.

    • For those of us who are organic writers where character, emotion, and plot grow together, skipping scenes can be a disasterous strategy which can lead to writer’s block or the lose of plot momentum.

      I’m not sure why that HAS to be the case. One can still skip transitions and move ahead on scenes, then backtrack. The scene skipped ahead to offers just as much possibility for material to spring up. One can make quick notes about that. The imagination is a muscle that loves jumping through various hoops scattered around the brain.

      • It’s not an OCD thing, but it’s part of the process of writing for most of us who write organically. Romance writers are almost always organic writers, and I’ve talked to and worked with hundreds, and I’ve never met one who could write using “insert important scene here” and create a workable novel. A few I’ve met can write scenes out of order, but most don’t because this method fails them. Those few tend to be so experienced as writers that they are able to write out of order.

17. My biggest plot snag ever involved the date of one of Poe’s poems. My resource had been wrong, and one huge part of the plot involved that poem being seen at a certain time by a certain character. I was still in the middle of writing the book when I discovered the error, and I freaked out. I stopped and spent the day doing household chores, etc., while thinking like mad. My solution proved to be a better plot idea than what I’d originally planned. Sometimes, snags are a good thing.

    And, Happy 210th Birthday, yesterday, Mr. Poe!

18. Great post, Jim. I have a friend struggling with this right now and I just sent her a link. Your tip to just INSERT WHATEVER HERE is well taken. This is a staple of my collaboration with my sister. Whenever on have of us is stuck on a scene, we write in mid-stride INSERT DESCRIPTION OF CREEPY MANSION HERE. Or some times, CHECK FORENSICS ON THIS LATER.

    The advantage we have, of course, is two brains. I have often told writers to pretend they have a co-writer and try this device, like they can count on someone to fill in the blanks later while they just keep moving forward. Then the solo writer has to go back later and put on the “co-author” shoes. It’s a trick that can work…if you’ve got a good imagination and you’re desperate enough.

    • Good tip, Kris. Reminds me of David Morrell’s suggestion: Imagine your favorite writer comes in and looks at your manuscript. What would he or she say about it? I’ve tried this several times. Got some great direction from John D. MacDonald and Raymond Chandler.

19. Hi Jim
    Thanks for a terrific post.
    I find that I don’t hit snags so much when I have good sub-plots. These help drive the whole story along and provide extra conflict and are great for character development. For example, I’m writing a thriller, but there’s a romantic interest. Would you include sub-plots as a type of ‘shadowing’?
    Thanks
    Linda

    • Indeed. Subplots are great fodder for shadow story material. You just keep thinking about what’s going on in a subplot when you’re in the main.

20. Great post. Advice I can use now for my WIP and I’ve bookmarked it for future reference. Thanks.

    • Happy to help!

21. Hello, James, it’s funny. Since I’ve been following you, you’ve been publishing articles to help me at the right time exactly where I can’t go any further. I’m working on my first draft and I’ve tried to write the scenes logically one after the other in short form. As a beginner, even if you keep it short, you don’t manage to keep the tension because you are so busy with the logical connection of time, place and movement. This tip helped a lot. Thank you.

    • Happy to help, Sven. And thanks for stopping by TKZ!

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24. I can’t skip all that stuff when I write a scene; that’s just impossible for me. But I can skip whole scenes and jump ahead to a future point in the story, which is especially useful for maintaining or (more important) regaining momentum when a project has come to a sudden slowdown for any reason.

    To sort out sudden minor “and now what happens?” plot issues, my most useful method is: take the dogs for a long walk and give the problem some thought. For some reason this is way more effective than sitting on the couch and staring into space. Also, the dogs like it.

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