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Planning a Novel, Plot and Story Structure, Drafting a Novel, Revising a Novel, Writing Prompts, Quick Writing Tips Kerry Savage Planning a Novel, Plot and Story Structure, Drafting a Novel, Revising a Novel, Writing Prompts, Quick Writing Tips Kerry Savage

Because of That: A But/Therefore Test for Your Novel’s Plot

I once wrote about 145,000 words of “and then this happened.” My protagonist’s life, event after event, in order. Every scene was fine on its own. Together they added up to a very long list.

What finally helped was a test I now use on my own work and with the writers I coach. Between every pair of scenes, you should be able to put one of three connectors: because of that, therefore, or but. Each one means the first scene caused or complicated the second. If none of them fits, and the only honest link is “and then,” you have a sequence, not a plot.

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Planning a Novel, Drafting a Novel, Revising a Novel, Plot and Story Structure, Quick Writing Tips, Character Development Kerry Savage Planning a Novel, Drafting a Novel, Revising a Novel, Plot and Story Structure, Quick Writing Tips, Character Development Kerry Savage

Beware the Bland Book on the Back of the Door

This takes me back, all the way to 2018, when I had what I was sure was the final iteration of my outline. 🤣🤣🤣 To paraphrase Leslie Knope: Kerry, you beautiful tropical fish.

No one gets it 100% right the first time. Writing a novel is a process, not an event.

What I really had, I know now, was a bunch of plot points. Their only connection was that they tracked the events of my protagonist’s life. There was no real meaning, nothing juicy–just the dreaded ‘and then this happened’. And, friends, I wrote 145K words worth of ‘and this this happened’. Blerg.

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