Wiggle Room

It's Wednesday!

You've successfully made it through half of the week. Give yourself a high five. Really. Do it. :)


Remember last week, we talked about plot holes in short stories?

Well today, we're talking about them in novels.

Holey

Short stories, like we said last week, have zero tolerance for plot holes. They're so small in length and subject matter that they simply can't handle any holes. But novels, on the other hand...

1. Development

First off, we'd better answer the question of what a plot hole is.

It's something that is never referred to again within a book, something that doesn't quite make sense, a hole in that it was left to the side and forgotten.

But in novels, that can be a good thing.

I know, a lot of you are going to disagree with me on this one, but this is my feeling on the matter.

Novels are huge. We know this. And we also know that novels shouldn't be tied up into a neat little bow at the end. There should be some unanswered questions, some little things that keep readers coming back to search for what they missed. Some of those, if you ask me, should be flat out holes.

Why?

Because that way, your reader has the chance to develop their own answer, to play with the story themselves and create something within it.

2. Sequels

And if #1 wasn't enough for you, then there's always this.

Plot holes can be filled in the sequel. If you've read Coetir, you probably noticed there's one slightly blaring plot hole near the end. I won't mention what it is, in case you haven't read it. But there's a reason for that hole. It relates to the last book in the series (which, by the way, hasn't been written yet). If that hole wasn't there, the final book couldn't happen the way it wants to. Everything would fall apart in the end, all because that hole wasn't where it needed to be.

So if anything, plot holes can be our allies. We can use them to create sequels, to form our worlds into larger and more expansive places, since novels are big enough to take it. We just have to know what we're doing, in order to make it work.


See now, why short stories can't and novels can?

[love]

{Rani Divine}