How to fix a story plot

There are a couple of reasons why a story plot is not feeling right or is boring. Examine the work and see if you can find the week points using this guide.

Too little action

A story becomes tedious if there is a lot of inner feelings and not a lot of action. This doesn’t mean that you need to have ninja’s jumping through the ceiling, it just means have your character do something interesting. This has to tie in with the book and the character.

Take Kung Fu Panda – it was a cute little story of a rather large out of shape guy that ended up being a super Kung Fu fighter. In it his inner changes were matched by a lovely sequence showing him learning and growing.

Too much action

An action film with no real plot is an excuse of car chases and fight sequences. Make sure that the action is relevant to what you are saying.

Keep asking yourself, what is this telling me about the character and is it clear enough that the dumbest member of the audience will get it?

A weak main character or main plot

99.99 percent of story problems come from a weak main character or a problem with the plot. You have to make sure that you have an interesting character that people want to get to know. You also need to make sure that the reason for the character doing or reacting to something is strong enough to drive the plot forward.

Weak character or weak plot = terrible story

Information which is not relevant

Too often a writer will have a weak concept or a concept that will get him or her 150 pages into the book, but it is difficult to end or it is too short. This means that they will go back into the book and kill good writing with bum fluff (a term I use for the really irrelevant, thoughts, feelings and descriptions which leave you thinking, who cares?)

I wish the publishing houses would learn to cut these books down. I would rather read a good 100 page book than a fluffy 300 page book. Oh, but a great book, be it 100 or 300 page is well worth it.

Repeating a point

Too often a writer will have a weak concept or a concept that will get him or her 150 pages into a book…

Repeating a point is annoying. Do I look so dumb that you had to tell me this three times? Dude, I got it the first time, move on or do you have nothing more to say?

At the end of the day, if you describe the character well and keep the pace of the books good. Have an interesting plat and character then you will have a readership.

We would love to see some of your work. Please post some of your writing, plots or ideas and we would be glad to comment on them.

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