Writing a five-book series with five main characters spread out over a two hundred year timeline has literally made my life hell sometimes. 

Note to self: next time write a simple novel with only one MC. 

In a complex novel, all of the plots pretzel together, and each character influences the stories of the other characters. Solving plot problems can make you want to pull out your hair. Just when you think you've found a perfect solution for one plot hole, then you find out that your 'perfect solution' has caused a million other plot holes!

Raise your hand if you've played this horrible game of wack-a-mole?

I've tried everything to build that omniscient perspective of my novel, to see the larger picture and how all of the character's stories can come together. From post-it-notes and index cards, to huge plot maps and excel spreadsheets, I've done it all. None of it worked for me. 

Then I discovered the following technique when I was just trying to list all the possible solutions to one particularly difficult plot problem. I spent four hours that day building this huge list. Since that day, I return to this technique all the time and it NEVER fails to help me find that one answer that I'm looking for.

In short, the technique is like a pros and cons list, but then taken to a whole other level. It's like a pros and cons list on steroids. 

Let's begin. 

NOTE: It looks confusing because Wattpad doesn't have list functions, which is a real pain in the butt because this is a list technique. You might find it easier to follow along with the Solving Plot Problems Template that you can fetch from my website. I've added the link to this post. 

STEP 1

Open a fresh word document and at the top put the problem as a title. Save the file with the name of the problem. Please note, you do need to do this on a computer, because you want to be able to easily go back, add info or change the order of items on your list. 

After you've written the title of your problem, hit enter and on the next line start writing about the problem. Just as if you were telling a writer friend about it (someone who actually cared). Write as much as you want. I usually just write a few sentences, but sometimes I write an entire page worth of crap, depending on how big the problem is and how much it is affecting other characters or plotlines of the story.

Now, below your paragraph explaining the problem, create a bullet list. Write down all the possible solutions to your problem. One solution for each bullet. Open your mind and try to forget some of the more obvious stuff that you might have been stuck on. Just really try to brainstorm. If you want, you can ask a friend to help. You should have at least 5 solutions.

For example, I actually did this just a while ago with the problem/question, how does Character X get pregnant? I came up with 5 possible solutions:

How does my character get pregnant?

1. Falls in love, has sex, gets pregnant

2. Doesn't fall in love, but has sex, and gets pregnant

3. Gets artificially inseminated, gets pregnant

4. Gets raped, gets pregnant

5. Wakes up one day and finds out she's pregnant, doesn't know how it happened.

STEP 2

So, once you have your list of potential solutions, hit enter after each solution and indent that bullet. For each solution, write a sentence or two with what's good about that solution and what's not good about it.

For example:

1. Falls in love, has sex, gets pregnant

        a. I like this because it's romantic and it's what I would wish for this character.

        b. but I don't think it would work because she isn't the type to fall in love, plus her character is ostracized by this community and I can't imagine anyone breaking the social code and falling in love with her.

Do this with all of your potential solutions. Try to be open-minded. Don't just dismiss any potential solution. Remember, the solution IS there, you just need to find it, and for some reason you can't see it. It's like looking for your car keys that you KNOW you haven't lost, but you can't find them anywhere. This technique is like suddenly looking down and seeing that your keys are on the coffee table and they've been there all along. You were looking in the wrong place.

STEP 3

Okay, so now you have your list of potential solutions, but you also have a bunch of reasons for why each solution might work and might not work. This is where it gets interesting.

Hit enter below each explanation of each solution (why it works and doesnt work), and you will create another bullet. Indent this bullet in once. It's important to use bullets because, as you can see, your page is getting full of writing, and the bullets are the only way to visually track your progress. So indent the next bullet once, to show that you're talking about the paragraph above (about why it works and doesn't work). 

For each reason that doesn't work, create ANOTHER indented bullet and brainstorm all the possible ways to get around it -- how you can MAKE it work.

For example:

1. Falls in love, has sex, gets pregnant

        a. I like this because it's romantic and it's what I would wish for this character.

        b. but I dont think it would work because she isn't the type to fall in love, plus her character is ostracized by this community and I can't imagine anyone breaking the social code and falling in love with her.
                        * Maybe she changes. BUT HOW? I mean, what would cause her to change?
                        * Maybe she meets someone who is an outsider like her. BUT IT'S A CLOSED SOCIETY, SO HOW WOULD SOMEONE GET IN?
                        * Maybe someone hypnotizes her or gives her a love potion. THAT'S RETARDED, IT'S NOT THE KIND OF STORY I'M WRITING, BUT MAYBE IT COULD WORK, BUT HOW?
                        * Maybe she hits her head, gets amnesia, and forgets that she's a cold-hearted bitch. YEAH RIGHT... Sounds like Days of our Lives.
               

STEP 4

Go through all of your solutions like this. You've reached the third layer deep. By this time, you're going to have lots and lots of ideas floating around. You probably have at least 1 page of bulleted writing. Some of the potential solutions will feel 'right' and you might have had your aha moment already. It just clicked. But sometimes the aha moment hasn't come because the solution to the problem you really like is tied in with other plotlines, and giving you OTHER problems. So, now you need to work through those....

If that's the case, see above how I wrote new questions/problems in ALL CAPS? That's because I want to be able to see them easily. Being able to visualize the problems and solutions in this way really helps me keep track of what is clearly a rabbit hole of information. Besides using bullets and ALL CAPS, I will also often highlight with green the solutions that seem the most promising. And pink for the the problems that I still have to solve.

If you haven't had your aha moment, don't worry. Yes this is taking time, but believe me, if you persist you will find your solution. THE solution that works for YOUR story.

So, take the questions in ALL CAPS, and start an entirely new paragraph. If you want, you can create a new bullet below each paragraph and indent it to deal with the ALL CAP questions/problems, but I prefer a new paragraph to have a fresh start. I use a heading for the new problem so it stands out. You can deal with one problem at a time, or you can copy all the the ALL CAP problems and create new paragraphs so you don't forget to explore them. Then do the whole exercise over again. Come up with 3-5 possible solutions for each of your new problems, but obviously only if you feel the problem has merit and deserves a solution.

I won't keep going with examples, because I hope you catch my drift. 

By this point you'll be 4 layers deep into your novel and I can guarantee that you will be learning stuff through this that you never thought you would, related to completely different characters and completely different plot problems because -- it's all connected. 

So, good luck, and hope this technique helps you as much as it has helped me! Please let me know how I can improve this document, or if my technique works for you, or if you don't understand.

Unfortunately, Wattpad doesn't have bullet capabilities, so it's difficult to see how the bullets work. I've posted a Solving Plot Problems Template on my website, and it might be helpful to download it to get a better idea. See the link associated with this post.