I think I found a great way to smoke out those unsightly plot-holes and other plot uncertainties.

((This is obviously just another way to keep track of plot-threads, but I thought I’d share this technique in case it works for you better than the more traditional plot-thread management techniques (colored index cards, spreadsheets, etc).))

I grabbed a pen and a notebook. I wrote a big number 1 and, starting with the prologue, wrote down the first plot thread I came across. Then I got as far away from my computer as I could to sit and jot down everything that happens in that plot thread all the way to its conclusion or to the end of the book, whichever came first.

From that thread, I had four more plot threads branching off that I could follow, and I continued said trend until my entire story was told.

A few times, I came across problems in the plot I never realized existed. So when those ‘wait-a-minute’ moments came up (“Wait, why did he cover for those two guys if he doesn’t even belong to the same guild in the first place?”), I’d write the word “TROUBLESHOOTING:” and take the characters or situation in question and write about them from the beginning to the current predicament.

Thankfully, I was always able to link the plot threads together in a logical way to patch over the plot holes. 

As a result, some scenes were sharply enhanced—where, before, the characters really didn’t have much to talk about. This exercise gave my characters more motives, more personal hate vendettas, and all kinds of juicy ulterior motives to flesh out the dialogue scenes.  

And I have a much better vantage point to the entire story than I’ve ever had before. 

Here’s hopin’ this technique helps your first draft as much as it did mine.

PS-> If you haven’t yet, please check out the Novel Push Initiative. I still need some novel-pushers to join me in March.