Plot Flaw, Part 2, Or How to Let Your Subconscious Do Some of the Work

Marsh marigolds are blooming now.

A couple of weeks ago I found a plot flaw as I worked on the inside outline of my zoo mystery. It was a little alarming given how carefully I thought I’d planned things.

Nevertheless, I told myself not to worry about it for the time being. I’d let my subconscious have a go at it while I wrote the “because of that” explanation pieces to make sure the scenes are causally linked.

After I finished those, I made notes in the outline about things I need to add or change. For example,

I found one short scene I can cut. It was useful for me to write, but the story doesn’t need it.

I need to introduce a new minor character because I decided I need another suspect.

I discovered a way to increase the stakes for another character.

A few days later, I opened a blank document and typed “Thoughts on plot problem in next steps outline.”

I looked at the content of the problem scene and saw immediately what the next most logical action was for my kid detective. The answer to my plot problem was right there in front of me. She needs to ask her dad about X instead of Y.

It felt like those studies where you watch a short video clip and you’re told to focus on one part of it. You focus so hard on that one thing—say, counting how many times they pass a basketball—that you totally miss the person dressed in a gorilla suit who comes in. Then when you watch it again, the gorilla costume is so obvious you can’t believe you didn’t see it the first time.

An inside outline has been a useful tool for finding problems myself in my own work. It’s helped me see it from a different perspective.

But it’s nothing like having a smart, story-oriented professional with completely fresh eyes read your work and give you feedback.

My agent recently gave me such feedback on my middle grade dog novel. We had an 80-minute call during which I took 12 pages of handwritten notes. It was so fun doing that deep dive!

The big picture items I’ll be addressing are pacing, characterization, world-building, sentence structure, and language.

That’s a lot of different elements to improve upon.

The way I thought I’d start is by typing up my notes. That way I can categorize and organize the feedback since sometimes we went off on short tangents.

Once I have my notes typed up, I think I’ll begin with the characters. I first wrote this novel in 2010 or 2011. I didn’t do character interviews back then, so that’s what I’m going to do next. I need to make sure I know each of the significant characters’ wants and needs, not just my main character’s.

So my summer will be devoted to revision. It’ll be interesting working on two novels. I’m going to prioritize the dog novel and use my mystery as a relief valve.

I’ll let you know how it goes.