For all our enthusiasm when we start a story, it’s easy to get stuck and realize we lost the plot along the way. If you’ve gotten partway into your draft and the plot is stalling, you’re in good company. It happens to the best of writers.
You might find yourself wavering over what to do with the whole project. Do I throw it out and start over? Do I just sit at my desk until words appear?
In this article, I’ll walk you through some steps to find your way back to the plot. I’ll explore when you can lean on an outline or when the outline needs to change, and offer you some tips to give your story space. Lastly, I’ll give you a Story Weapon to help sharpen your plot.
When you have lost the plot partway through a draft, the solution is to pause and reverse-engineer your narrative by auditing its central dilemma. If your story is stalling, it usually means the stakes are too low or your characters have outgrown your original plan; by heightening the antagonist’s pressure, mapping an experiential outline of your protagonist’s transformation, or taking a short subconscious break, you can safely clear the creative mist and find your way back to a focused structure.
When an outline helps
The advice I give most beginning writers is to outline your story before you write the first draft.
If you’ve lost the plot and you don’t have an outline to get back on course, there’s no clear way out of the mud. Having a rough story structure already laid out is a great way to keep the gears turning.
Using an outline doesn’t mean you’re railroading yourself. You’re not stuck on a planned route. There’s plenty of flexibility along the way. The outline just gives you a roadmap to reach the end of what your story wants to be.
Along the way, you’ll learn more about your characters and your imagined world. You’ll learn about the choices your characters would make and you might even find places where they seem to be leaning toward a different plot than the one you imagined.
What if you’ve got a bunch of pages written already and don’t have an outline? How do you get back on track?
Take the time now to create an outline. There’s no time like the present! Set a goal post for yourself by imagining your protagonist transformed at the end of the story. Consider what steps it would take to get there and the challenges they would face. Don’t worry about your outline being “right” or “wrong.” Creating an outline is about going from the general to the specific. In other words, you can’t do this wrong.
Your “idea” is never the whole story
Maybe you do have an outline, but you’re still stuck. That’s completely normal. Part of what we’re learning as we write our first drafts is where our predetermined plan fails. Even finding out what you don’t like about your outline is helpful.
If you come to a point where you want to explore a different choice in the plot, or where it feels like the characters are being shoehorned into doing unnatural things to make the story work, that is the most useful moment in your entire writing process. It means your characters have become real enough to resist your initial idea of the story. Listen to them. The story they are trying to tell you is almost always better than the one you planned.
As the story evolves and your characters gain depth, they’ll start pulling in new directions. The original plan doesn’t work for them anymore. This is an exciting part of the journey. Your characters have grown enough that you can sense their desires, their curiosities, and their hidden ambitions. See where they take you, and adjust your outline accordingly.
Odds are, you’re being pulled toward areas of the story that are intimidating and uncomfortable. You might be resisting this, just like the hero resists the call to adventure. The shadow places of your psyche are ripe material for a story. Just like your characters are risking their lives, you’re risking your vulnerability. The more you can plunge into the places you didn’t want to go, the richer your story will be.
“I lost the plot for a while then. And I lost the subplot, the script, the soundtrack, the intermission, my popcorn, the credits, and the exit sign.”
– Nick Hornby
Stepping away from the story
Sometimes, the outline or lack of an outline isn’t the problem. The story has become overwrought. You’ve gone too deep into the minutiae and can’t see the big picture any more. If that’s the case, it can help to take a short break from the story. Just like days off from the gym to give your muscles time to rest so you come back stronger, a short time away from writing can give your story the space it needs to evolve in your subconscious mind.
Reset yourself. Even when you’re not writing, your subconscious mind is still turning over the intricate details. Sometimes it needs a few days to work out a new aspect of your story.
If you want to keep writing, perhaps you can write a short story or a poem that’s connected to your world. Maybe you can write an episode in a character’s past that you’ve mentioned and not fleshed out. You can fill in details about the world, draw pictures of the things you’re imagining, or pen an ode to the villain. It may not end up in your story, but that’s OK. Whatever you do here, keep the pressure off and let this time be play, not labor.
If you’re still not sure what’s causing your writer’s block, I explore the causes behind it and some other ways to get through it here.
You can also explore the primal forces in your story through quick 5-minute stream-of-consciousness writing prompts. These prompts will often help you get to the truth of your characters’ experiences.
You’ll know when you’re ready to return to the page. Don’t rush the process. The story will be waiting for you when the time is right.
Your story weapon: Hone in on the dilemma
At the heart of every story is a dilemma: a problem that can’t be solved without creating another problem. When a story loses momentum, the problem is usually that the dilemma isn’t dire enough. The life of your protagonist must be unbearable, in some way, without addressing the core issue that the plot invites them to solve.
In real life, we usually ignore problems until they’re staring us in the face. The same is true for your characters.
It’s only when conflict comes knocking that they’ll draw their swords and risk safety, dignity, and comfort to embark on the quest. If they can turn back anytime, there’s nothing driving them forward. That’s a reason that so many stories are about orphans. There’s no safety net to keep them from their destinies.
When you’re stuck in the middle of a draft, examine the central dilemma. Is the antagonistic force strong enough to make the protagonist transform into someone new? Is their world threatened, either physically or spiritually? What makes them need to get on the yellow brick road? The clearer you can make the dilemma to yourself, the easier it’ll be to follow that through line to the end of your draft.
The good news is that you’ll find your story. Even though it’s challenging at times, stories look for the right authors just like authors look for the right stories.
I know it to be true that your story lives fully and completely within you, while your idea of your story is never quite the whole story. This is humbling news, but it should also come as a relief to know that it is not your job to figure it all out. It is your job to stay curious. If you’ve lost the plot, don’t despair. With patience and consistency, the mist will clear and your story will begin to appear.
When your story seems to be cast adrift, the solution is not to abandon it. If you’d like guidance shaping your draft into a stronger, more compelling narrative with a solid story structure in place, join one of my next workshops: The 90-Day Novel, The 90-Day Memoir, Story Day.
