Finish that novel! Janice Hardy can help.
By Janice Hardy
Fatal flaws can sink a story, but don’t lose hope if you find one in your novel. They require a bit of work to fix, but they usually are fixable. Review your manuscript objectively, pinpoint where the problem lies, and then take steps to repair the flaw and get the story back on track .
Fixing the Wrong Protagonist
Sometimes you pick the wrong protagonist. You have an idea in your head and think the story is going to be about one person, but as it unfolds, another is clearly the one driving the story.
Common feedback symptoms include: “I want to know more about X.” “X is way more interesting than Y.” “X seems to be the one doing everything, and Y just goes along for the ride.”
Look at your protagonist and story and ask:
Is the protagonist wrong? If so, change who the protagonist of the story is.
Is the protagonist not enough? It’s possible the story needs more than one main character to drive it, and the protagonist is only doing half the necessary work.
Does the protagonist need reworking? Maybe you have the right character, but she needs a total makeover so her personality or situation better serves the story.
Often, changing the protagonist doesn’t require as much rewriting as you fear. The scenes are right, but the character navigating them is wrong.
Fixing the Wrong Story
Sometimes, you write an idea and as it plays out, you lose interest in it. Or you discover that what you thought you were writing isn’t at all what’s on the page. Somewhere you became lost in the weeds and have been writing in different directions looking for a way out. Until you do, you can’t finish that manuscript.
Common feedback symptoms include: “What about the X plot? Are we ever going to find out how that worked out?” “What happened to So-and-so?” “This subplot is much more interesting than the main plot.” “I skimmed through here, but it really took off here.” “Why are they doing this when that is way cooler?”
If you think you’re writing the wrong story, ask:
What story do you want to tell?
It’s possible you lost sight of what your goal was, but it’s also possible that once you delved deeper into the story, it wasn’t as interesting as you first thought. There’s no shame in setting aside an idea that didn’t pan out.
Is a subplot more interesting to you?
Maybe a subplot has taken over and is far more interesting than the main plot.
Are your beta readers more interested in a subplot than the main plot?
Maybe your readers are ignoring the core conflict, but are dying to know more about a throwaway subplot you tossed in there on a whim.
It’s disheartening to throw away all that work, but look at it as writing that needed to be done to find the true story in your idea.
Fixing the Wrong Point of View
Shifting perspectives can change the entire feel of a novel, turning what was once distant and told into close and personal.
Common feedback symptoms include: “This would be better in first/third.” “If you did first/third you’d be able to explore X better.” “Have you thought about doing this in first/third?” “Why are we seeing this character’s perspective?”
Look at your point-of-view style and ask:
Is the scale off?
An epic tale that spans continents may be too large to be told by a first person point of view without access to the larger elements of the story, same as a third person point of view might feel too detached for a personal journey.
Are there too many point-of-view characters?
Even when you have the right point-of-view style, if too many characters are involved, the story can feel clunky and hard to follow.
A point of view problem is one of the easier flaws to fix, since you can write a new chapter or two in a different point-of-view style and compare. If you like what you see, the rest of the novel should go smoothly. If you’re still unhappy, you can try another style, or reexamine the flaw—maybe point of view isn’t the real issue and it’s a character or protagonist flaw.
Fixing a Lack of Conflict
Conflict drives a novel, and without it, the story can seem like it’s not going anywhere or nothing is going on. A lack of conflict can take many forms, but most often it’s because A) there’s no goal so there’s nothing to conflict with, B) there’s nothing preventing the protagonist from acting, or C) every obstacle is easily overcome.
Common feedback symptoms include: “Everything’s too easy for the protagonist.” “There’s nothing in the protagonist’s way.” “Stuff just falls in her lap.” “There’s nothing going on.” “What’s this about?”
Look at your novel and ask, is it:
A goal issue?
The goal should be external and something the protagonist can physically do. Internal goals are vital for character arcs, but they don’t help drive a plot.
An antagonist issue?
A protagonist (and a conflict) is only as strong as the antagonist. If no one is actively trying to keep your protagonist from her goal, this could be the problem.
An easy-obstacle issue?
If every problem encountered is solved with no effort or skill, then there’s nothing in the way even though it may look like it. Conflict = struggle + hard choices.
A character arc issue?
The lack of available hard choices could be because there’s no character arc to create the inner conflict needed to create the tough choices in the first place.
Often, the conflict is weak because the actions are for plot reasons only, not because the characters want to do what they’re doing. Nobody’s trying to stop anyone because nobody cares—it’s a play, not their life.
Fixing a “Why Should I Care?” Lack of Stakes
Not caring is almost always a personal stakes issue. If there’s no risk for the protagonist, why should readers care about her problem? The fun is in the fear that doom is just around the corner, and terrible consequences will befall those who fail.
Common feedback symptoms include: “Does it matter if she does this?” “What will go wrong if she fails here?” “Why is she going through all this? Can’t she just leave?”
Look at your major turning points and ask:
Are there personal and life-changing consequences for failure?
If the protagonist can walk away and nothing bad happens to her, that’s the problem.
Is the only thing at stake “the protagonist dies” or “the world ends?”
If death or bodily harm is the only reason and the only consequence, find or create a few more reasons to make failing personal and compelling.
A consequence can feel enormous, but readers still don’t care, while a small little risk can yank at their heartstrings. Typically, the more personal they are, the higher the stakes feel.
Fixing a Lack of Credibility
Sometimes characters act in ways that make no sense. Everyone knows the killer is waiting in the dark, but the character goes into the basement to check the weird noise anyway. Or a character has a skill set that stretches credibility, or breaks a law of physics with no explanation. Whatever goes wrong, readers say, “Nope, not buying it.”
Common feedback symptoms include: “Why would they do this?” “Why didn’t they do X instead?” “This seems like a lot of work when they could have done X.” “Doesn’t this go against what they said before?”
Look at where your characters might be stretching credibility and ask, is it:
A motivation issue? Characters need solid reasons to act, and when they act against their own best interests, readers cry foul.
A realism issue? The suspension of disbelief is vital to fiction, but there’s a fine line between a little reality finagling and outright impossibility.
An over-thinking issue? If every problem requires a Rube Goldbergesque plan to resolve it when a simple act will fix it, there’s a good chance the plot is getting convoluted.
In most cases, fixing a credibility issue is a matter of showing why (or how) such an act is necessary, or why something is the way it is. If you have no other reason than, “Because it has to be for the plot to work,” there’s the problem.
Fatal flaws aren’t always fatal, and you can salvage a half-finished manuscript you still love—even if you don’t particularly like it at the moment.
by Janice Hardy (@Janice_Hardy) October 9, 2016
*Excerpted from Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft
***
What about you, scriveners? Do you have a half-finished novel with a fatal flaw? Have you ever given up on a novel? Do you have one that might be helped with these fixes?
Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of The Healing Wars trilogy and the Foundations of Fiction series, including Planning Your Novel: Ideas and Structure, a self-guided workshop for planning or revising a novel, the companion Planning Your Novel Workbook, Revising Your Novel: First Draft to Finished Draft, and the first book in her Skill Builders Series, Understanding Show, Don’t Tell (And Really Getting It). She’s also the founder of the writing site, Fiction University. For more advice and helpful writing tips, visit her at www.fiction-university.com or @Janice_Hardy.
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Thanks, Janice, for a super helpful post! Made me think of “stronger in the broken places.” Confronting, addressing, and embracing flaws in the ways Janice suggests can lead to brand-new ideas and dynamic break throughs that will bring unfinished work to vibrant life. Barbra Streisand’s nose was considered a flaw…until it wasn’t!
Thanks! Great observation! Some flaws only look that way on the surface 😉
Good points to check before and during editing.
Thanks!
Thanks for the fix suggestions for the flaws I knew I had – and some I didn’t realize I had!
Most welcome, glad you found it useful 🙂
You really ran it down Janice, a very thoughtful piece and I love anything that encourages and fixes. No shortage of people telling you to just dump it.
I find that these subplots, sidelines and distractions are really new stories aching to be told, and at times I’ve had it tough just trying to identify the breaks between tales. There’s often overlap- older heroes in my world retire (or try to!) and newer, younger ones are just getting started. They don’t meet directly at first, time and events draw them together. Attempting to figure out when to jump PoV, when to call the current installment over, these have been delightful for me personally. I can never seem to see just what’s in THIS tale. There’s always more.
Thanks! Sometimes that is the only fix, but in most cases the idea can still be saved.
If you keep having story ideas while writing, it might be worth it to start collecting those stories and summarizing them in a different file. Get the idea out of your head, but don’t put it in the current WIP. That way you keep your manuscript on target, but still get to explore the other ideas. Maybe only add back the ones that work and you can see improving the story.
Very helpful, Janice, thanks!
Making the antagonist bigger/stronger/more intimidating forces the protagonist to dig deeper. The more obstacles the hero must overcome, the more the reader cheers for him/her.
P.S. I entered your drawing, but may have done it wrong b/c I didn’t enter this comment within that screen. So here’s the missing comment.
The antagonist is so vital to a great story. No worries, I think the comments give you extra entries. As long as you entered the Rafflecopter widget you should be good.
Terrific article. It touches on so many issues I find in my beginning clients’ work and in my own! Right now I’m working with a “stakes” problem and had a few early critiquers asking the dreadful question “Why doesn’t she just leave?” Yep. More work to do here!
Thanks! Stakes are so tough because “high stakes” means different things depending on the story. The world coming to an end can be boring, where passing a final exam can be riveting.
I like to say, it doesn’t have to be the end of the world, as long as it’s the end of the *character’s* world in some way. A small problem can have huge consequences if it changes someone’s life, even if it means nothing to anyone else.
I have a half-finished outline with flaws – too many technical plot holes.
Thanks for mentioning the IWSG contest.
Happy to include the IWSG Anthology contest in the Opportunity Alerts, Alex. Anthologies are often the first way that writers break into print. Remember to check out our “Opportunities” at the bottom of the post everybody!
Technical plot holes aren’t *usually* too hard to fix 🙂 Hope you figure it out before too long.
Yay, got the corrected link and got to read. Thank you, Janice!
You’re welcome! Sorry about the mix-up. I blame the hurricane 🙂
Great article! Super helpful. I also tried to leave a comment on Janice’s blog for the raffle, but raffle copter was difficult. Said I left a comment when I didn’t. In fact all the clicking opened no box I could even write one in! But I loved all the step by step and tips….
Victoria–You’re not the only person who’s had some problems with the Rafflecopter widget, but it is possible to get it to work somehow.. When Janice checks back in, let’s hope she can give it a virtual kick or whatever it needs. Thanks for stopping by! .
This was a timely post for me. I think I’m having a ‘wrong’ or ‘not enough’ protagonist problem. At the beginning, a character closely connected to the protagonist is more invested in the conflict and the antagonist is personally out for that character rather than the protagonist. The protagonist becomes more invested and the antagonist shifts focus to her as the story goes on, but I’m having trouble with personal stakes at the beginning. Also, I’m having to be very creative in how the protagonist learns certain information about the antagonist and the other character’s past. The obvious answer would be to include the other character as another pov, but that character is an adult and the protagonist is a teen. So I’m left wondering which category—young adult or adult—the ms would fall under at that point. Something to think about, I guess.
Just from your description, it does sound like the other character might be the actual protagonist. Or the problem just needs to be shifted to the current protagonist. Perhaps there’s a way the opening problem can involve the protagonist trying to help the friend, and by helping, that puts them in the antagonist’s cross hairs? I’m looking for ways to make what the protagonist chooses to do to be what triggers the core conflict.
As for YA vs. adult, ask yourself this: Is this story about a teen who deals with a problem that shapes who they are as a person, and by the end of the story they’ve taken a step closer to being an adult? If so, it could be YA. Or..is it a story with a teen character, but the problem is an adult problem solving it in an adult way, and the teen is still a teen and doesn’t grow, then it’s probably adult. YA books are about teens solving teen problems in teen ways.
Thanks! It is YA and what you described with the mc helping and ending up on the antagonist’s radar is pretty accurate to what happens. I think the plot may just be taking too long to get her in the cross hairs, which is part of why I’m stalling out.
Quite possibly. You might try looking farther into your beginning to see if maybe the story should start a few chapters in. Maybe there’s a better problem to work as a bridge between opening scene and inciting event. Or you could try adding a problem as a step to further complicate things or draw your protagonist in. Or, you could cut out a few things to get to the cross hairs moment faster.
How many times does the antagonist overshadow the protagonist? Good villains are so much fun. 😀 Thanks for a wonderful post!
I love a good villain. Probably more so than a good hero 🙂 Most of my favorite characters are bad guys.
Another great post! Thanks so much!
My pleasure!
Somewhere along the way i think i lost the “want” fir tge story i want to tell. I need to rexamine a few things in addition to reevaluating my stakes.
It happens. Try going back to the beginning of your story and looking at what the protagonist wants or needs. Also look at the ending to see what actually gets/got resolved (both in the plot and the character arc). Usually you can find the answer there.
In earlier practice novels, my stakes were always OH NO HE’S GONNA DIE or OH NO THE WORLD IS GOING TO EXPLODE. Sometimes both. My first novel I sent to a CP had OH NO THE WORLD style stakes, and while my CP liked it, her favorite parts were the quiet moments between characters and when two side characters were having background relationship drama. She said the parts about THE WORLD were just … there.
So now I’m being more careful to immediately and more personally tie characters to the plot. Like, she wants to live up to the family legacy of joining the Marines. Start small. Eventually it can work its way up to, I dunno, machine gods from outerspace coming to wipe out the planet. But start small.
Great description of why “HIGH STAKES” isn’t always compelling. 🙂 Personal is almost always more interesting.
Wonderful article, Janice! I think the points you have raised are all things I regularly ask myself when I have gotten stuck and can’t seem to figure out why. One of the problems in a manuscript I’ve been working on for years was that I had the wrong main character, when it should have been another person all along, so thank you for highlighting that! And thank you for all the helpful links at the bottom of the article. Good stuff!
Most welcome! I have a “wrong protagonist” draft awaiting rewrites myself 🙂 It happens to all of us.
Thanks heaps – a great list of questions to ask.
Most welcome.
Really great post. Very useful.
Thanks!
This will be really helpful when going onto my next round of edits! I like to work with larger casts, so I’m sure I will have plenty of things to work on!
Hope it makes the process easier for you. Yep, larger casts do have their own share of challenges, but taking them one at a time often helps keeps thing organized.
Thank you, Janice! Very useful questions to think about 🙂
Most welcome 🙂
Thank you for the post and the giveaway! Great point about the stakes. I remember reading in some blog post that in order for the stakes to matter to the reader, the reader first needs to care about the character, which is where the smaller, more personal stakes help. Even if death is on the line, if a reader doesn’t care about the character, those high stakes aren’t going to mean anything.
Absolutely. I’ve written that same line, and I know plenty of other great blogs that have also shared that same advice. If you can’t answer that, “Why should I care?” answer for your readers, they *won’t* care.
Thanks for the post! I have an MS that seems hopelessly flawed. I keep trying to fix it, but it’s still missing something. This post helps a lot. Still not sure how to fix it, but at least I know what’s wrong. 🙂
Knowing what’s wrong is the first step, so at least now you can start searching for how to move forward. 🙂 I’m sure Anne and Ruth have some good advice here, and you can also check my blog, Fiction University. We’ll get you pointed in the right direction!
Oh definitely. You gals have loads of great info, which is why I’m a subscriber. 😉
Yay! Thanks 🙂
lots of points, need to mull these over – feel my work may be complex enough to be a series!
It’s possible. I’ve found looking at where the series can go and doing a rough plot of future books helps me determine if the idea has series potential or not. I’ve had ideas I thought for sure were, but when I tried to go beyond one book it all fell apart. You might take a peek at this article I wrote on things to think about with a series to get some insights and help you decide or plan it 🙂
http://blog.janicehardy.com/2013/08/7-tips-on-writing-series.html
Great advice here. I’m reminded of a line from Agatha Christie that describes both writing and crime solving: “It often seems to me that’s all detective work is, wiping out your false starts and beginning again.”
So true 🙂 I bet you could sell a ton of those at writer’s conferences if you put it in a frame, lol.
My WIP definitely has POV issues! The first section is meant to be omniscient but the longer I wrote (this rough draft is older than my first child) the more it shifted to close third with multiple POVs. Janice, after your RD and reading plenty of advice about stakes and conflict it works much better as multiple perspectives. Now if only I can finish it before NaNo!
I’m glad I could help you find your way with it. You still have time before November 🙂 Worst case, make it your NaNo novel.
Enjoyed your post. I am at a place in my work where things might be stronger and your ideas are like sparks of light. Thanks.
Oh good! Glad it made some light bulbs go off 🙂
Thank you again for the fixed link!
I really appreciate how you made the connection between “common feedback” and “possible fixes.” You’ve created a handy-dandy guide!
Most welcome! I do try 😉 So much of writing is subjective, so I hate to give hard and fast rules for things. Every book is different, but some problems do often include similar clues that something is wrong, and can be fixed in similar ways. I’d rather offer diagnostic guides so writers can apply them to their own work as they see fit.
This was a post that really struck home. I have a manuscript that I’d put aside and recently decided to take a look at one more time. I realized that a new plot point would change the story completely as well as the charaters’ motivations. I’m rewriting and finding that the pacing is now working, the character arcs easier to develop and the whole story is coming together in a way it hadn’t before. It really is true that you have to be willing to look at the story in a whole new way to make it better.
Great example, thanks for sharing! And I’m so glad you finally found your missing piece 🙂 Best of luck with your rewrites.