After years of critiquing and editing manuscripts for writers, I’ve learned there is one major piece of advice I keep having to repeat. It’s quite simply: progress the plot. Push the plot forward. Keep the plot moving. I’ve said it multiple ways, but it all means the same thing. Today, I want to get into what “progressing the plot” really means and how to make sure your book does this so you don’t end up with a muddled and boring middle.
Progress The Plot
Sometimes when you’re reading a story, you might find yourself thinking, “Nothing’s happening” or “What’s the point of this?” You may start skimming until “something finally happens.” Have you ever stopped to wonder why you feel this way? Clearly, something is happening since the words are describing a scene, but it doesn’t feel important. It seems irrelevant to the story you think you’re reading. Why is that?
Because books all offer promises to the readers. A boy will learn to be a wizard. A couple will get stuck in an airport and fall in love. These are promises of the story premise. If we pick up the book looking for a love story and get ten chapters in without meeting a love interest, we think “nothing is happening” in the story. That’s because it isn’t living up to its promise. Readers have expectations of the plot and need to see movement toward or away from that goal.
In order to understand how to progress the plot, you need to know what it takes to make the story feel like something is happening. For that, you need to know the most important ingredient for plot.
1 Ingredient Needed To Show Progress
In order for there to be progress, there has to be something to measure actions against. In stories, progress is measured against the protagonist’s goal. Say you read a novel about two friends on a road trip. If you don’t know what the destination is (the whole goal of the trip), you might start to think that the route is random and without purpose. However, if you know they are trying to get to a certain spot, you’ll feel a sense of progress as the two get closer to it and a sense of loss if something happens to make them detour.
Your protagonist’s goal is the final destination of the story, and progress is the steps it takes to get there. Once there is a goal, the reader can measure how close or far the protagonist is from it. Steps toward the goal or away from it will make the story feel like “something is happening.” If there is a goal and the protagonist has a plan on how to achieve it, the readers can follow along and scratch through steps that don’t work and check off those that do. At the end, the protagonist gets to the goal and the readers feel the payoff for sticking with the story to see their expectations fulfilled.
How To Show Progress
So how exactly do you show progress in your story? There are two practical ways to make sure you are doing this throughout your book (especially in the middle when most readers get bored). One is to put goals within goals, and the other is to show shifts in every scene.
Goals Within Goals
The most practical way to show progress toward the overall goal is to create steps to achieve it and follow those steps. We talked about this some with layering goals. For instance, there are many steps (or mini goals) to publishing a book. Brainstorm the story. Write. Edit. Get feedback. Edit. Publish. But even within those goals are even smaller ones. To brainstorm a book, you need to create setting, characters, goals, obstacles, etc. Publishing a book feels like a big goal, but breaking it into smaller bits makes it feel more approachable. Most importantly though, you can measure your progress. Everyone loves checking things off a list. Readers are no different. Therefore, once you have your protagonist’s goal, there needs to be an actionable plan on how to achieve it. Show the protagonist checking off smaller goals, and the readers will feel like they are getting closer to the overall goal.
Showing Changes
The other important aspect of progressing the plot is to make sure there are shifts in every scene. Where the protagonist starts should not be where they finish the scene. Something has to change in regards to the goal in every scene. That is very important so let me restate it. Something must change in every scene, whether that’s internally or externally. There can be a step away from the goal, a change in the plan, an achievement of part of the goal, a switch in goals, or even the abandonment of a mini goal. At the end of every scene, the protagonist should be closer of farther from the goal than when the scene started. These are small changes on the scene level, but after major plot points like the catalyst or midpoint or climax, the changes need to be big and have a huge impact. Every change should have consequences that the protagonist has to deal with, whether good or bad. Usually, these consequences affect the goal or plan, creating a new way for the story to shift in the next scene.
Final Thoughts
I’ve been thinking about the concept of progressing the plot for a while now, and I hope my explanation made sense to you. It’s a problem I see often (I even catch myself doing it!), and I wanted to bring more awareness to it so writers can use this advice to improve their stories. If you keep the progress visible for your readers, you’ll have a page-turner they can’t put down.
Thanks for reading!
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