What do you do if your plot is flagging? The Plot Doctor is IN.

October 20, 9:19 PMNY Writing Careers ExaminerTad Richards

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A guy comes busting through the door with a gun in his hand.
Illustration by Tad Richards

Shake your plot up. Whatever you're about to have your character do...have her do something else.

• She's telling the truth -- change to she's lying.
• She's lying -- how about she is lying, but she really believes she's telling the truth.
• She wakes up in the morning with a guy she doesn't know -- she wakes up in the morning with her boss, but she doesn't remember going to bed with him.
• Her worst enemy gets the promotion that she deserved -- suppose it's gets the promotion that she deserved?
• She asks her husband for a divorce -- just as she's about to ask her husband for a divorce, someone comes busting through the door with a gun in his hand.

What's your plot? Where is it starting to bog down? Ask the Plot Doctor, and he'll come up with an alternative suggestion. You may not use it. But it might shake up your thinking about it.

Write me. Hit me with a comment. What do you have to lose?