Plot Devices: When, How, and Whether to Use Them

by Elizabeth S. Craig

Robin Higgins from Pixabay

Most readers can spot a plot device from a mile away. You know the kind of stuff I mean—those narrative techniques that move the story forward but sometimes feel a little too convenient. The overheard conversation, the suddenly discovered letter, or the long-lost relative who appears just in the nick of time to solve a problem. I read a book in June where the whole book hinged on two characters not telling each other one important fact from the beginning of the story to the end. It was a sort of miscommunication trope. A frustrating one.

Plot devices aren’t always a bad thing, though. They’ve been used in stories for centuries. But how they’re implemented can make the difference between a reader rolling their eyes or quickly turning pages.

Common Plot Devices and Reader Reactions

These plot devices appear frequently in fiction, with varying reader responses:
• The coincidental meeting - Characters “happen” to cross paths at just the right moment
• The eavesdropped conversation - A character overhears exactly the information they need
• The hidden document - A letter, will, or diary conveniently reveals crucial information
• The sudden skill - A character possesses exactly the ability needed in a crisis
• The timely arrival - Help arrives precisely when all seems lost

Readers tend to accept these devices more readily in certain genres. It might be a harder sell in literary fiction than commercial fiction.

Making Plot Devices Work

The key to using plot devices effectively is making them feel organic instead of contrived. Here are some ideas:

Set them up beforehand: If a character needs lockpicking skills in chapter ten, mention their misspent youth in chapter two.
• Create logical circumstances: If characters need to meet, put them in situations where such meetings make sense—community events, shared connections, or common interests.
• Add complications: Instead of having the hidden letter solve everything, let it create new problems or only provide partial answers.
• Acknowledge the convenience: Sometimes a character saying, “I can’t believe our luck” acknowledges what readers are thinking and defuses potential eye-rolling.
• Focus on character reactions: How someone responds to convenient information might matter more than how they obtained it.

When to Avoid Plot Devices

Some situations call for steering clear of obvious devices:
• When they solve problems too easily without any emotional cost
• If you’ve already used other devices in the same story
• When they undermine the established rules of your story world
• If they make your protagonist passive rather than active

Finding the Balance

Moderation and careful implementation is important.
Does this device move the story forward?
Is there a more organic alternative that would work?
Have I prepared readers so this doesn’t feel like it came out of nowhere?
Does this preserve the challenges my character needs to face?
Readers will forgive plot devices that lead to satisfying emotional payoffs. If the overheard conversation leads to a character confronting their deepest fears, readers are more likely to accept the convenience.
What are your thoughts on plot devices? Do you have favorites you enjoy as a reader, or ones that always make you groan?

Bestselling author Elizabeth Spann Craig weaves Southern charm into her cozy mystery series, featuring everything from quilting guilds to library cats. A lifelong mystery lover who grew up on Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie, Elizabeth has published over sixty books across five series. She shares writing tips on her blog and lives in Western North Carolina with her family and their corgi. Follow Elizabeth at elizabethspanncraig.com

Make the Most of Having 15 Minutes to Write by Elizabeth S. Craig

As hard as it is to imagine, the holidays, beginning with Halloween next month, are fast approaching. Along with the whirl of activities come a change of routine and schedule, which may well mean that you have little, if any, time to write. This is totally understandable, considering there are family and friend commitments. Time-wise, you may be on a totally different schedule or even in or out of town.

I try to squeeze in some writing during the holidays as well as I can, while ensuring I'm still completely present for family time. It's often just fifteen minutes. I've found, though, that you can get a lot done in that amount of time. In fact, setting a timer and writing for 15 minutes is one of my favorite ways to work, regardless of how busy life is. That's because it's the perfect amount of time for me to really focus on my writing without getting distracted.

If you're dealing with fifteen-minute writing sessions, here are my tips for making the most of them:

Note where you left off the day before: At the end of your writing session, jot down a couple of notes so you can jump into where you left off the following day. This keeps you from re-reading what you wrote last time (which not only slows you down, but can put you in editing mode instead of creative mode).

Think about your story for a second before your session starts: On your way over to your laptop and while you’re booting up, think about where you want the session to go. What are you wanting to accomplish? Is this a scene with dialogue between characters? Is this going to be a transition scene? Are you developing the setting or adding description during the session?

Mute notifications: If you don't mute notifications, that 15-minute period is going to get hijacked by your phone. Minimizing distractions is the best way to focus during your short session.

Try to be flexible: If you're usually a morning writer, but your houseguests are taking naps after lunch, try writing in the afternoon. Or try to write for a few minutes before turning in at the end of the day. See if you can squeeze in a writing session in any sort of dead time . . . waiting for the kids to come out of basketball practice, waiting for your car to get its oil change, etc.

Make lists instead of doing traditional writing:  Maybe you don’t have a full fifteen minutes. Maybe you really only have five minutes. I’ve found that during my busiest days, making lists can help me make progress on my manuscript. Basically, you advance your story by thinking up 5 ways to describe your main character, 5 ways the character could grow, 10 possible subplots, 5 ways to describe the setting, etc.

Or maybe you’re in the revision process with your story. You could think up 5 ways to get out of the plot hole you’ve discovered. Or 5 possible endings for your book, if you’re not happy with the one you’ve penned.         

Something else I've found . . . these quick writing sessions work best if you can write each day for 5-15 minutes. It helps when your head is still in the story world.

Do you write in shorter writing sessions, or do you prefer longer ones? What does your holiday writing schedule usually look like?

 

Elizabeth is the bestselling cozy mystery author of the Southern Quilting mysteries, the Myrtle Clover Cozy Mysteries, the Village Library Mysteries, and Memphis Barbeque mysteries for Penguin Random House, Midnight Ink, and independently. Her latest book is  Quilt Complex, which releases tomorrow. Follow her on Twitter where she shares writing links @elizabethscraig or at her blog where she offers tips for writers: http://elizabethspanncraig.com/blog/ .  She lives in Western North Carolina with her husband and is the mother of two.

Tips for Writing and Promoting Series

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Writing a series can be a very rewarding endeavor. Often, it’s easier to write about established settings with developed characters. A series can be just as rewarding for readers, too. Readers get the opportunity to take a deep dive in our story world with characters that grow over the course of the series.

Here are a few tips for writing series:

Decide what type of series you’ll be writing. Some series are a collection of books with no continuing story arc (the storyline is wrapped up at the end of each book). Some series have a continuing storyline that’s wrapped up at the end of the series.

Consider series pacing. If you’re working on a continuing storyline, you’ll want to make sure the story doesn’t fizzle out in the middle of the series. The whole point is to keep readers reading from book one to the end.

Keep a series bible. If you track minutiae about your characters, settings, and plot points in a separate document, you’ll be able to keep your story world and characters consistent.

Explore outlining. It’s important to know where your series is going with a continuing storyline. Even a few sentences with a plan for each book will help you with pacing the plot and character development.

Be careful with cliffhangers. One thing most readers will agree on is that books ending with cliffhangers can be frustrating. It’s better to wrap up at least something at the end of a book, even a subplot, just to provide a sense of fulfillment. If you’re rapid-releasing the series, this won’t be as much of a consideration.

Once you’ve got a few books in your series, it’s time to do some promo. Here are tips for promoting a series:

Focus on book one. The first book in your series is the one to advertise, promote, and hook readers with. You’ll want to make sure it’s the best representative of the series in terms of cover design, plot, and character development.

Consider using book one as a reader magnet for newsletter signups. By using a service like BookFunnel or Prolific Works, you can exchange a free book for a subscriber to your newsletter. Then send a newsletter whenever you have a new release in your series.

Look into book promotion sites for book one. These are sites that will promote your book to their email list for a fee. Author David Gaughran rates the best book promo sites each year.

Consider Facebook or Amazon ads for book one in the series. Ads can be expensive, so make sure you know what you’re doing before you explore advertising. Reedsy offers free courses for both Facebook advertising for writers and Amazon ads.

With a little planning and promo, you’ll have a successful series for readers to enjoy. Do you write in series? What tips can you add?

Elizabeth is a bestselling cozy mystery author of four series.  Follow her on Twitter where she shares writing links @elizabethscraig or at her blog where she offers tips for writers: http://elizabethspanncraig.com/blog/ .  She lives in Western North Carolina with her husband and is the mother of two. Book #22 in her Myrtle Clover series, Murder at a Yard Sale, releases May 16.

Update Your Amazon Book Pages and Author Page

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

There are plenty of promo-related tasks that writers must stay on top of regularly. Because of that, it’s easy to let other tasks slide. Sprucing up our Amazon book and author pages can fall by the wayside while we work on updating our Facebook page or sending out newsletters.

But updating our Amazon pages is both free and easy. And a professional-looking book page can make a big difference when readers stop by.

Here are a few places to consider tweaks:

Your Book Description.  You can make your Amazon book descriptions look better with a little formatting. Use bold face, italics, and different font sizes to catch readers’ eyes. One easy way to do this is by using a free tool from Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur.

Editorial Reviews. Do you have a few good reviews you can highlight? Go to Amazon Author Central and add those to the editorial review section (you can format your reviews with the same tool from Dave Chesson).

Your Author Profile. Have you visited your author page on Amazon recently? Check to see if your posted bio is still current. You can also add photos, videos, your blog feed, and a translated bio for international markets on Amazon Author Central.

The books under your profile. Occasionally, I’ll notice that a newer release isn’t listed under my profile. This is a quick fix by logging into your Amazon Author Central and linking to it there.

Extra content: consider creating A+ Content for your Amazon book pages. A+ content offers you an enhanced product description section and more space on the page to convince readers to try your book. You can use photos and text and bits of reviews. For more information and guidelines, go to Amazon’s A+ Content page. I recommend using Canva to create the content—a free tool for designing promo-related images.

Keywords and metadata. Do a wellness check on your keywords and metadata in your KDP bookshelf. If you write in a series, is your series name consistent for all your books (vital for helping readers find your books)?  When was the last time you updated your keywords? Are there new categories on Amazon that your books might be a good fit for?  

Even for those of us who “go wide” with our books, Amazon is still key to a book’s success. By putting our best foot forward on the site, we can leave potential readers with a good impression.

Have you checked in on your Amazon pages recently? Are there any other types of passive promo you need to update?

 

Elizabeth is the bestselling cozy mystery author of the Southern Quilting mysteries, the Myrtle Clover Cozy Mysteries, the Village Library Mysteries, and Memphis Barbeque mysteries for Penguin Random House, Midnight Ink, and independently.  Follow her on Twitter where she shares writing links @elizabethscraig or at her blog where she offers tips for writers: http://elizabethspanncraig.com/blog/ .  She lives in Western North Carolina with her husband and is the mother of two.