by Lucy E. Zahnle

Created on: April 21, 2010   Last Updated: February 25, 2011

When most writers sit down to write a short story or novel, they have at least a general plan or plot for their work. They have decided on a beginning, middle, and end which will create a satisfying tale or bring home to their readers a particular point, message, or moral that they want to stress. However, whether the author has a hazy plan or has created an extensive twenty page outline complete with annotations, illustrations, and source documentation, occasionally the characters in the story ignore all of that and choose a new path, leading to an unforeseen and seemingly hopeless situation. Whether the author’s unconscious mind has generated ideas that he or she is unaware of possessing or the characters have indeed become, in some sense, “sentient beings” is beside the point. The author is now faced with a scene that may seem better than the one he or she has planned, yet takes the plot in a different, perhaps unworkable, direction.

When faced with this situation, writers have three choices: to go with the flow and see where the new plot twist will lead, to rewrite the entire work to incorporate the new plot twist more smoothly into the fabric of the story, or to scrap that scene or even the entire work and start over. Writers who select the first option have the unenviable task of figuring out how to rescue their characters from their new dilemma without being overly obvious in their use of “deus ex machina” or coming up with a totally unbelievable solution to the problem. One way to do this is to list the strengths, weaknesses, and talents of the characters who are in trouble and then list the obstacles in their path. Use the character traits list to devise a logical way for the characters to save themselves. Of course, if your characters are magical beings, those characteristics would be incorporated into their lists. If the possibility of outside help exists at all, you could also devise a way for that help to arrive just when your characters need it most.

Reworking the plot is another way to solve those painted-into-a-corner situations. You may suddenly discover that you have written a plot twist that completely deviates from your original outline and you like it better than the starting plan, but you cannot abide working without some sort of outline. Go back and rework your outline from the point where you made the plot change. Rethink how you want your characters to grow and interact, where you want the rest

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