Plot Holes

So, I'm currently working on the first draft of my YA novel which is sitting somewhere around the 30,000 words mark and you would think that I have my entire plot sorted out....well, not exactly.

To be clear, I do have a plot but for some reason it's not working. I don't know if it's because of the way I'm writing it or if I haven't thought it well enough but something's just not right. Then I began to panic. "Oh, no! I have to start my story again for the third time! I'm never going to get this finished! My life is over!" Ok, so maybe not that last bit but the rest was true. I honestly felt that the only way to save my story was to destroy it.

Then I remembered Holly Lisle and her courses so I went on her website and I found her "FREE Plot Outline Mini-Course" which is divided into 7 weekly lessons. The first lesson had several exercises in it which I needed to do to figure out my character, her motivations and what to keep in the plot and what to get rid of.

This was what helped me. I was so attached to my story that I didn't want to get rid of anything that didn't work. Instead I tried to make everything work and that's why nothing was working. The first lesson also helped me loosely plan out what was going to happen in the beginning, middle and end and gave me a fresh perspective on my story.

I'm really looking forward to getting my next lesson because sometimes you do need help! For the struggling writer, here is where you can find your own free copy of the course: Holly Lisle's Free Plot Course