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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31923
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31923
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

While no one can say for sure, my guess is that you are probably suffering from what seems to be a recurring problem for people posting here: confusing plot with imaginary history.

Story never starts with plot. It always starts with character, and it always starts with a character who wants something and a set of obstacles that stand in the way of their getting it, which build to a point where the character must face a fundamental choice of values.

A plot is a device to place the necessary obstacles in the path of your character and to force them to make that fundamental choice about values. Plot exists to advance character toward crisis.

If you start with plot, what you are really starting with is an imaginary history, which may have an internal logic and causality about it, and may lead to some great event such as a battle or a wedding, but however logical and self consistent it may be, if it is not throwing progressively larger obstacles in the path of character who is attempting to gain a desire and leading them towards a fundamental choice, then it is not creating the necessary conditions for story.

Story does not emerge out of plot. Plot follow the logic and necessity of story. In many cases the plot can be highly illogical, even absurd. There is quite an industry on the Web pointing out the plot holes in famous books and movies. But the point is, these are famous and well loved books and movies. They are great stories, even if they have faulty plots. Because plot is not story. Story is the emotional and moral arc of a character leading them to a moment of decision and to the consequences that follow -- in moral logic -- from that decision.

If you started with a plot, you are never going to edit it into a story. A story is a different kind of thing, but in a novel it is the only thing that matters. Telling your story may mean twisting your plot into a pretzel and taking a bite out of it. No one will care if the moral logic of your story remains intact.

Original score: 4