Plot Bitches and How to Slay Them
If you’ve ever read a book where an external event happened that felt, well, just a little too contrived, then you already know how irritating a plot bitch can be. Plot bitches are twists we place in our stories that aid or thwart our protagonist’s journey ever-so-conveniently. We may think we’re cleverly stalling the progress of our protagonist toward their goal, but readers can see the writer behind the scenes, pulling strings to draw out the tension. Or we may slyly hand our protagonist just the right tool or the bit of information they need to achieve a win. But without that victory feeling earned as a result of the character’s actions, readers will see through our plotting. They will intuitively know something is wrong with the way the character just happened to be given the thing they needed. As a result, readers will lose belief in the protagonist’s agency and, perhaps worse, become cognizant of us, the writer, hiding behind the page.
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But, good news! There are two ways to slay those plot bitches before they pull back the curtain and expose you.
To slay plot-bitch obstacles: Make sure your scenes are linked together with cause and effect. Don’t allow a convenient obstacle to come along that really has no roots in the chain-link of events. For example, your protagonist has a secret and is finally going to confide in someone. But when they approach the other person, the other person is busy or distracted or in some crisis of their own. Hence, your character decides it’s not a good time to finally share that burning secret. Such random obstacles will create reader frustration. Just when they thought the moment they’ve been waiting for is here, some unforeseen, disconnected event occurs. You stall the plot. You ask them to wait longer for something to happen. Plot bitch, no. Keep those plot turns coming. That thing you’re trying to hold off from happening too soon? Make it happen. Force yourself to keep the plot rising, and the tension will keep on climbing.
To slay plot-bitch wins: Make sure any new information, tool, or positive development for your protagonist is earned as a result of their own actions. When we conveniently place a wise character in the protagonist’s path who just happens to know the very thing the protagonist needs to know, or your character stumbles upon the tool they need in order to confront the antagonist, readers will see through it. Plot bitch, hell no. But, if a character seeks out answers from a very specific character based on the events that have happened before, the information will feel more earned. If they go on the hunt and overcome obstacles to obtain the tool they need, reader confidence in the character will soar. Make them work, and reader trust will follow.
A word of caution. Not all plot bitches are created equal. There’s one plot bitch to rule them all, but it’s only one. It’s been said that writers get one coincidence in kicking off the events of their stories. Think Hunger Games. The coincidence that set the story in motion was when Prim’s name was pulled as tribute for the games. We didn’t see it coming, but that’s okay. Suzanne Collins got that one freebie to kick the story into motion. Or consider middle-grade novel When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller. Protagonist Lily is having a normal car ride to her grandmother’s house when she sees an unrealistically-sized tiger just lying in the road. Plot bitch? No. She gets that one freebie, but then everything after that must be set up and earned.
Notice how these random coincidences happen in the first chapter, and they kick start a chain of events. From those plot bitches forward, every single thing that happens must be tied to those initial events, not randomly selected. Every obstacle must come naturally, and every success must come as a result of the character’s efforts. Don’t let a plot bitch expose you. As writers, our primary job is to give the reader an experience that feels so authentic, they swear it can’t be fiction.
