Saturday, April 17, 2010

Plot Ingredients


The following advice on building a successful plot comes from Frank Creed, The Finishers.Biz:

The most common problems in plot that I have encountered are:

•A slow beginning
•Any inclusion that does not advance the plot (secondary character, dialogue, subplots, narrative, etc.)
•Pacing of events that moves too fast
•Pacing of events that moves too slow
•Subplots that aren’t tied into the main plot at some point
•Protagonist not involved in all events, either directly or indirectly
•Weak conclusion

If these flaws are cleared up in a manuscript, further rewrites to improve plot will merely move information around, not improve quality. It is said an artist is never done with a story; there just comes a time when one must stop working on it.

Great advice, and I agree with his conclusion--"...there comes a time when one must stop working on it." The conundrum--deciding when it's time.



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