Q: Someone in my writers group complained that my plot is hard to follow. Can you help?
A: You might need to work on the transitions — the glue that makes a seamless narrative. You might need to add a few words of clarification or entire new passages to bridge the gaps.
Your reader could be bewildered because those critical transitions between the scenes and events of the story are missing or insufficient.
The narrative could read along pretty well but suddenly there’s a bump in the road, a jarring hiccup from one scene to the next that leaves the reader perplexed, confused, disoriented and up in the air: “Wait a minute,” the reader thinks. “This doesn’t make sense! Where are we? What’s happening? What did I miss?”
As an acquisitions and developmental editor, I see this all the time. It’s a very common problem, and easy to fix. Consider some of these types of transitions depending on the specific needs of your draft manuscript:
Types of Transitions and Bridges
1. Date and location headings
A specific date, including month, day and year, like April 7th, 1941 set in caps or italics on its own line at the beginning of a scene or chapter can be an effective way to keep the time straight, especially in a work of fiction or non-fiction that spans many years. You can even spell out the location, like December 25th, 2009, Portland, Oregon, to eliminate the need to explain it elsewhere in the text.
2. A few words of orientation in time and space
Getting the reader from one scene to the next in a coherent manner can be as simple as including some words of orientation, such as “Early the next morning…” or “Three days later…” This discrete addition may save the narrative from disintegrating and make it easier to follow.
3. Third-person narration
Some form of third-person narration can often fill the missing link, like “Alice decided not to wait for the letter to come but made plans to leave on her own. She found herself standing on the platform at the train station the next morning, with only an overnight bag and the Lonely Planet guide to Ecuador…”
4. A character’s inner thoughts
If you’re writing a first-person narrative, you may need to let us into the character’s inner thoughts to explain what’s going on. “I thought about what Dad always said about the true meaning of money, so I….”
5. A new scene or chapter
In many plot-driven stories, memoirs, biographies or histories, the author may have left out an essential piece of the puzzle that can’t be ignored. This may require the insertion of a full-scale scene or chapter that shows the narrative development from an omniscient perspective, or from another character’s point of view.
The trick is to realize this and locate the precise spot for the new additions. A good editor can help by identifying not only the location, but also the kind of insertion that’s needed. Sometimes it’s a new piece of dialogue; sometimes it’s a quick run around the block to see the story from a different point of view. So read over your manuscript with a critical eye or get some objective professional advice from a teacher or independent editor.
Pruning and planting
Good writers understand that the process of writing and rewriting has to include both pruning and planting. They know it’s essential to take the scalpel to any repetitious sentences or chapters, while at the same time not being so cool and stylish as to bewilder, disorient, and ultimately alienate the reader.
Of course, a writer doesn’t want to be pedantic in tracking the linear sequence of one event after another, whether it’s fiction, memoir, biography or history. Less is often better and an effective literary style should never be based on formulaic step-by-step recitation.
Everyone needs an editor
I’ll bet you can find unnecessary or repetitious words in this post that if removed would make the writing better. And what did I leave out?
Write in with your own experiences and any advice to pass along. I look forward to your comments.
I’ve heard that Tolstoy said transitions were the most important part of the novel. While I’ve yet to track down the actual quote from the Count himself, it seems right to me.
I just found your blog, and am already finding it terrifically useful. Transitions can be devilish, and you offer some wonderful advice on the subject! I’ve linked to you on my “blogs I enjoy” page over at twaddleoranything.wordpress.com, the blog I’m writing about my novel-in-progress.
I look forward to reading more of your advice!
Hi Bernard-
You identified my overly qualifying caution (might and could, instead of does and would), my hyperbolic pile of adjectives — perplexed, confused, disoriented, which was not overtly intended to remind readers of the great Rodgers and Hart song “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” — but could. And you spotted the redundancy in using both transitions and bridges, which are actually the same thing and not just similar.
Good editing.
-Alan
To Alan,
Thank you. I find your words very encouraging. It’s just that we’re starting a publishing company next year, so we have to publish what I wrote, or we won’t have any titles to start the company with. And just as you mentioned regarding the self-published author, our goal as a company is to get bought out at some point when we’ve acquired a certain amount of selling titles–panned for gold in the slush and struck it rich, so to speak.
I wrote one novel, and we think it’s pretty good (we’ll see what the market thinks of it.). I have another I’m writing, and I think it will be my last. I say that because the story burns up all the themes that burn within me, and after that I don’t want to just whack away at books that don’t really matter.
But like you illustrated so well in your previous post, it sure would be great to find the next Mary Shelley or Edgar Allen Poe–all unpublished and wanting.
We’re on the cusp of Generation X, don’t you know? What are we going to do? We always have a lottery ticket, and we still hold the delusion of the American Dream.
Sometimes repetitions aren’t so obvious on the printed page. I find reading my work out loud immediately highlights the areas where there are repetitions and then they can be corrected.
I also find reading what I last wrote helpful before I write again. That way, I’ve been away from it a little while and can more easily see faults in it, but it also helps in getting me back into the story and the writing frame of mind.
To Gordon Jerome-
Self or “independent publishing” as it’s known now, is an honorable way to break into the commercial literary world. About five percent of all self-published books are taken over by commercial houses after they’ve demonstrated some degree of success, around 10K copies sold. In fact, I recently acquired two self-published books for reissue in my position as Executive Editor at Jossey-Bass/John Wiley & Sons.
You have to work just as hard and hold yourself to the same high literary standards when self-publishing as you would with any commercial publication. But whether it’s for family and friends or for a broader commercial market, you’re never a loser when you take charge and do it yourself.
-Alan
Alan,
First: this is another great, and useful article.
Second: once you got me started looking for potential improvements in the article, I couldn’t stop. I think this may be the difference between writing and editing. I want to make the piece my own, while an editor can’t do that.
Third: my suggestions are not meant as any disrespect to your own editor.
Fourth: my ideas, with Bernard as editor, below:
The answer starts “You might need to work on the transitions.” I think from there, the article would flow better if you just assume the plot does in fact have this problem. Then you could lose “[y]ou might”, “could be”, and “could read along pretty well”.
I think it’s a bit much for the reader to be perplexed, confused, disoriented and up in the air all at the same time. Three of these would do, maybe even two.
Generally, I don’t think the differences and similarities between bridges and transitions is well enough defined. The word “bridge” is only used in a few places. The reader could be left thinking, “Are they the same thing, or just similar?”
It seems that many of the principles for good nonfiction organization would be helpful for fiction. You already mentioned subject headings. Making sure that each chunk (paragraph, scene), etc has a clearly defined purpose and topic would be helpful. And even basic things — like making sure the names of key characters are distinct so the reader doesn’t have to work too hard to keep them clear.
Remember that people don’t have photographic memories — they tend to remember the gist of things, so if you have many characters/plotpoints/events that are fairly similar, they will blur together. To make them stand out, try adding in details that make a particular scene distinct. Have one argument in a restaurant, and the other one in a lumber mill or something. Also, repetition enhances memory, so if you want to emphasize an important plot point,you may want to mention it more than once. However, this could lead to a Dr. Seuss-like disaster if overdone, so use your judgment. The basic idea is to emphasize important plot points and make sure they stand out to the reader as important , either by spending more time on them, or by marking them with emotion, or some other way. Hm… I see a potential post on memory principles and plotting for my own blog… Thanks :-)
It might be helpful also to sit down with someone who hasn’t read your novel just explain the plot to them in your own words. There’s something about the act of talking something over face to face that forces you to be clear, and you can also get instant feedback on what parts are the hardest to follow.
I sold 247 copies of my self published book so far this month on Amazon. Not to my family. Not to my friends. Just word of mouth. Is this good? Maybe I should have thrown in a freaking vampire or two.
I just found this place. You seem to have a lot of good advice for authors. I find your biography very impressive, too, and I hope to learn a great deal as I stay in touch.
I’ve finished a novel that I’m hoping to self-publish next year. I realize that brands me as a loser, but there are extenuating circumstances. Nevertheless, a blog like this, written from your vast experience, may be just what I need. Thanks for writing it.