Plot Devices

 

Contributed by author Margot Conor

 If you’re writing fiction, you have probably used many of these but might not even be aware that you are doing it. Plot devices are tools or techniques used by writers to advance the story, create tension, develop characters, or deliver information. In fact, most writers use plot devices instinctively, and not because they have been taught to.

That was certainly true for me.

For instance, I’ve used a Chekhov’s Gun without knowing the term—just because it “felt right” to set up something early and bring it back later. And I’ve done a time jump because I knew the story’s pace needed to shift forward to avoid dragging.

Plot devices help move the story forward, especially when the writer needs a way to get characters from Point A to Point B, a reason for conflict or urgency, or a mechanism for revealing backstory or secrets. For example, a MacGuffin (like a stolen relic or hidden document) can give your characters a concrete goal, even if the object itself isn’t that important—what matters is what people are willing to do to get it.

Devices like foreshadowing, cliffhangers, or false hope can subtly cue the audience’s feelings, build tension or dread, create mystery, and deliver satisfying twists or emotional payoffs. Misleading reading and giving them an unexpected climax is rewarding. That’s why red herrings or unreliable narrators are so common in thrillers and mysteries.

Sometimes a plot device like a flashback or a framing device isn’t just for structure—it reflects a character’s inner journey or the story’s deeper message. A mentor figure may not only train the hero but symbolize the values they must eventually embrace or transcend.

The key is not to avoid them, but to use them thoughtfully. When overused or if they are too obvious (like a contrived deus ex machina), they can feel lazy. But when woven skillfully into the story, they become invisible threads that hold the whole tapestry together.

Here is a list, in case you are not aware of the terms:

1. MacGuffin: An object or goal that drives the plot forward, but its specific nature is less important than its effect on the characters and events.
For example: Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Ark of the Covenant is pursued by all characters, but it's largely a means to fuel the chase and conflict.

2. Chekhov’s Gun: A seemingly minor detail introduced early in the story that becomes important later. The principle is: “If you show a gun in Act 1, it should go off in Act Three.”

For example: In Breaking Bad, a ricin vial introduced in early episodes becomes key to later plot developments.

3. Deus ex Machina: A sudden, unexpected solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem, often involving divine or external intervention.

For example: In The Lord of the Rings, the eagles rescuing Frodo and Sam from Mount Doom feels sudden and unearned.

4. Red Herring: A misleading clue or event meant to divert attention from the true plot or culprit, often used in mysteries.

For example: In Sherlock Holmes stories, an obvious suspect is often introduced to distract the reader from the real villain.

5. Cliffhanger: A suspenseful ending that leaves a major plot point unresolved to compel the audience to continue to the next installment.

For example: The Empire Strikes Back: The movie ends with Han Solo frozen in carbonite, unresolved.

6. Flashback: A scene set in a time earlier than the main story, used to provide background or context.

For example: In Lost, characters’ backstories are told through flashbacks in nearly every episode.

7. Foreshadowing: Hints or clues about what will happen later in the story.

For example: In Of Mice and Men, Lennie’s killing of small animals foreshadows the tragic climax.

8. Framing Device: A story within a story, where the main narrative is presented within another context. Such as a character telling a story.

For example: The Princess Bride: The fantasy story is told within the frame of a grandfather reading to his grandson.

9. Time Skip / Time Jump: A sudden jump forward in time to show consequences or shift the narrative scope.

For example: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ends with a 19-year time jump showing the characters as adults.

10. The Reveal / Twist Ending: A sudden revelation that changes the audience’s understanding of earlier events.

For example: The Sixth Sense: The twist that Dr. Malcolm was dead all along recontextualizes the entire film.

11. The Mentor: A wise, experienced character who guides the protagonist, often dies or steps aside, pushing the hero to grow.

For example: In Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi trains Luke and sacrifices himself.

12. The Chosen One: A protagonist who is predestined to fulfill a great destiny, often without initially knowing it.

For example: In The Matrix: Neo is "The One" who will liberate humanity.

13. The Love Triangle: A romantic entanglement where a character is torn between two love interests.

For example: The Hunger Games: Katniss is caught between Peeta and Gale.

14. The Race Against Time: A scenario where characters must complete a task before a deadline or face dire consequences.

For example: In Mission: Impossible: Disarming a bomb before it explodes.

15.  The Ticking Clock: Similar to the race against time, but emphasizes suspense by continually reminding the audience of an approaching deadline.

For example: In 24: Each episode unfolds in real time, with a constant countdown.

16.The False Protagonist: A character introduced as the main focus, only to die or be sidelined early on.

For example: In Psycho: Marion Crane is killed midway, shifting focus to Norman Bates.

17. The Unreliable Narrator: A narrator whose credibility is compromised, making readers question what’s true.

For example: In Fight Club: The narrator’s split identity with Tyler Durden is a key twist.

18. The Secret Identity: A character hides their true identity, often for protection or to work undercover.

For example: Batman is Bruce Wayne. He lives a double life as Batman.

19. False Hope: When a plan appears to succeed, only to fail dramatically, escalating the stakes.

For example: In Avengers: Infinity War, the team nearly removes Thanos's gauntlet, but Star-Lord’s rage ruins the moment.

20. Plot Coupon / Fetch Quest: The protagonist must collect a set of items or complete specific tasks to progress the story.

For example: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Finding and destroying the Horcruxes.

Reading Books from Other Countries or Cultures
If you read in other languages or read translations written by authors from other countries, there are a few different plot devices used. Their storytelling traditions use unique narrative structures and devices that don’t always appear in Western storytelling. Writers from different cultures may use different narrative logic.

For example, Western stories often focus on conflict and resolution. Eastern stories may emphasize contrast, balance, or enlightenment. Oral traditions may prioritize communal values, less linear structures, or ritual-based storytelling.

Knowing this can help you understand the value of their stories and why they matter in the context of their social structures.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Margot Conor has been writing for as long as she can remember, but it wasn't until the COVID lock-down that she had enough time to dedicate to the craft and bring something to completion. Having finished her first novel, she went through the grueling two-year process of editing. Now she has jumped into the author's world with both feet. Margot's debut multiverse adventure novel, Inverse, is available on Amazon.

She's spent the last year attending many writing retreats, seminars, and writers' events. She also listened to presentations specifically on the topic of publishing and book marketing. She will be sharing what she learns with the reader. Learn more about Margot at https://margotconor.com/

 

Create a Writing Schedule You Can Stick with

  Contributed by Rebecca Camarena

It's easy to say you want to write and publish a book. You could talk about writing a book for years. 

But that's not enough! 

You need motivation, accountability, and persistance to see it through. Follow these tips to start writing your book. 

Create a Plan

You need to create a plan that details how you'll write a book, otherwise it won't get done. 

But creating a writing schedule is boring, isn't it? Not necessarily. A schedule is a terrific action plan and accountability partner. It allows you to brainstorm specific goals and assign achievable deadlines to your project using these tips; 

Find Time to Write 

Create your schedule by first evaluating how you're currently spending your time. Take a look at the last two weeks and what each typical day looks like for you. Make sure to include both your personal and professional activities. 

After you're done, review your days and look for pockets of time that you could dedicate to write your book. 

Outsource Tasks 

If you're stretched thin and can't find any time to devote to your new goal, then look for tasks that you don't personally need to oversee.  For example, cleaning your home doesn't have to be done by you. You could also hire a company to do it. Outsourcing doesn't always work for everyone.  You can schedule cleaning for each day and do only the basic elements. Get kids involved in cleaning or a spouse, partner. You don't have to be the only one holding it altogether.  

Make a Temporary Sacrifice 

Look for areas in your day and week where you can make a temporary sacrifice. If you spend several hours binge-watching your favorite show on Netflix, consider giving this up until you finish your book. Cut back on other activities that don't have to be front and center in your day. 

Thinking about writing a book can make you feel a bit overwhelmed.  That's why you want to break it down into smaller tasks now that you've created time and space in your life for this project. 

Make a Calendar or Chart 

Now that you've identified time where you can write your book you want to  track it. Create either a daily word count goal or a time tracking goal. 

Set a word count goal for an hour, a day or weekly goal. Write down your word counts and watch how the total grows over time.  At this point don't worry about being perfect with your words just get them on the paper. 

Track your time instead of word count. Very often as it happens committing to a certain word count can bring on writer's block. To avoid this just sit down and get yourself to write something in the allocated time. Even if most of the time is daydreaming at least you are gaining momentum. 

Whatever your reason for writing your book be honest about and make a promise to yourself that you will try to reach your goals and then exceed them. The important thing to do is experiment with a writing schedule you can stick with. 

About Rebecca

Rebecca Camarena is a Book Coach and author who helps women write, publish and market their impactful books about their heartfelt story of the challenges they’ve overcome so they can be an inspiration to others by sharing their words, their voice, their journey.

As a best-selling author with her co-authored book Out of My Comfort Zone: Stories of Courage, Perseverance and Victory she helped women share their stories of how they got out of their fear zone to excel in their business.

Are you’re ready to turn your heartfelt story into your dream book and become the author you were meant to be? Connect with me here, www.rebeccacamarena.com/contact

Dialogue’s Ten Basic Can’t-Go-Wrong Rules

 

Ten Easy Ways to Keep Dialogue Sharp
And Why the Average Author Needs to Know Them

 

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Author of The Frugal Editor: Do-It-Yourself Editing
Now In Its Third Edition

 

Let’s start with the second part first because you, the author, are reasonably sure 
your published work will receive attention from the best editors ever, 
and in the meantime, running small documents past friends, relatives, and even English teachers
likely won’t cut it. This article covers grammar and dialogue that
  English Departments’ don’t offer until college and then only if you happen
 to choose it as an elective or major in creative writing. 
PS: If you write nonfiction, and are avoiding anecdotes to make 
your work sparkle, you’ll have tools enough to make your characters speak!

 

Dialogue’s Ten Basic Can’t-Go-Wrong Rules 

 

1. Keep it simple. "He said" and "She said" will usually do. Your reader is trained to accept this repetition.

 

2. Forget you ever heard of strong verbs. Skip the "He yelped" and the "She sighed." They slow your dialogue down. If you feel need them, look at the words—the actual dialogue— your character used when he was yelping. Maybe it doesn't reflect the way someone would sound if he yelped. Maybe if you strengthen the dialogue, you be glad to ditch the overblown tag.

 

3. When you can, reveal who is saying something by the voice or tone of the dialogue. That way you may be able to skip tags occasionally, especially when you have only two people speaking to one another. Your dialogue will ring truer, too.

 

4. Avoid having characters use other characters' names. In real life, we don't use people's names in our speech much.  We tend to reserve using names for when we're angry or disapproving or we just met in a room full of people and we're practicing out social skills. Having a character direct her speech to one character or another by using her name is a lazy writer's way of directing dialogue and it will annoy the reader. When readers are annoyed, they will not be immersed in the story you are trying to tell.

 

5. Avoid putting internal dialogue in italics. Trust your reader and your own ability to write in a character's point of view. Whichever point-of-view you have choses for your narrative will let your reader surmise who is speaking.

 

6. Be cautious about using dialogue to tell something that should be shown. It doesn't help to transfer “telling” from the narrative to what a character’s is saying. Professionals will know what you are trying to do and your reader will just think that character is long winded.

 

7. Don't break up dialogue sequences with long or overly frequent blocks of narrative. One of dialogue's greatest advantages is that it moves a story along.  If a writer inserts too much stage direction, it will lose the forward motion and any tension it is building.

 

8. Avoid having every character answer a question directly. Some people do that (say a sensitive young girl who has been reared to obey her elders) but many don't. Some veer off with an answer that doesn't follow from the question asked. Some are silent. Some characters do any one of these things as a matter of course. Some do them purposefully, perhaps to avoid fibbing or to change the subject or because they are passive aggressive.

 

9. Avoid dull dialogue that doesn't help draw better characters or move the action forward. Forcing a reader to hear people introduce themselves to one another without a very good reason to do so is cruel and unusual punishment.

 

10. Use dialogue to unobtrusive plant a seed of intrigue. If a character brings up a concern that isn't solved immediately, you can heighten the page-turning effect until you are ready to supply the “great reveal.”

 

Though this article will have writers using professionally-written dialogue to liven everything from their nonfiction to their novels, I strongly recommend 

Tom Chiarella's Writing Dialogue published by Writers' Digest. For more on editing in general—from editing query letters to turning unattractive adverbs into metaphoric gold—find my The Frugal Editor in its third edition on Amazon.

 

Next month, right here on Karen Cioffi’s Writers on the Move
blog, I’m planning another list that
will give you ten reasons why knowing more 
editing than your do already might make

You a better (and happier) writer. 

 

MORE ABOUT TODAY’S WRITERS ON THE MOVE CONTRIBUTOR

 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson was an instructor for the UCLA Extension Writer's Program for nearly a decade. The first book in her HowToDoItFrugally Series of books, The Frugal Book Promoter, won USA Book News' Best Professional Book Award and Book Publicists of Southern California's Irwin Award. The second, The Frugal Editor, is the winningest book in her HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers (The first edition was named best of 2004 by USA Book News. ) It includes many editing tips on dialogue, the use of quotation marks and more and the third edition includes even more. Learn more at www.howtodoitfrugally.com. 

 

 

 

 

Children's Writing: Story, Plot, and Arcs

 Contributed by Karen Cioffi, Children's Writer

Lately, I've received a number of picture book manuscripts from potential clients who wanted quotes on editing.

Once I read over the stories, I quickly knew they weren't an editing project because there were no actual stories. They were a list of events or scenes.

It seems to be a common problem with new authors who don't take the time to learn the very basics of writing a story.

So, what exactly is a story and plot?

An article at The Write Practice uses a quote from E. M. Forster to explain the difference between story and plot: "The king died and then the queen died," is a story. "The king died, and then the queen died of grief" is a plot. (1)

The story is the basic storyline. It's the overall description of the story.

In my chapter book, Walking Through Walls, the storyline is that the protagonist wants to become rich and powerful, no matter what it takes.

The plot is in the details.

The plot of Walking Through Walls is that the protagonist wants to become rich and powerful, no matter what it takes, and he believes learning magic will get him there.

Another good example of story and plot is The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin.

The story: Within one hour, the protagonist thinks her husband died in a train crash. Having missed the train, he comes home, and the protagonist drops dead.

The plot: The protagonist thinks her husband died in a train crash. Having missed the train, he comes home, and the protagonist drops dead, but it's not from the shock of overwhelming joy.

Paints quite a different story, doesn't it?

Now, if you have a series of events: Pickles the dog plays with a cat, then plays with a frog, then plays with a goat, then plays with a pig, you don't have a story arc or character development.

I'll have clients ask why something like the above isn't a story. The dog is having lots of fun with different animals.

Well, if it was a concept book teaching about animals, then it could work.

But if it's to be a fiction story, it doesn't work. The reason is it lacks a story arc and a character arc.

The story arc is the path the overall story takes. Every character in the story goes on this journey. It's also called the narrative arc.

According to a MasterClass article, the narrative arc "provides a backbone by providing a clear beginning, middle, and end of the story." (2)

The character arc, on the other hand, is the path the protagonist takes.

Just like the story takes the reader on a journey, so does the protagonist.

The character arc is all about the protagonist. It's him confronting a conflict or challenge, his attempts to overcome it, and his ultimate success. Through this character journey, the protagonist grows in some way. She may gain knowledge, become confident, mature, rise to challenges, or grow in some other way. But it's essential there is growth, especially when writing for children.

So, going back to Pickles the dog, he, as the protagonist, has no conflict or challenge to overcome. He doesn't grow in any way.

And as for the Pickles story, it's flat. There's no arc.

Readers won't become invested in a series of events. They want to connect to the protagonist and root for him to overcome his obstacles. They want a full story arc and character arc.

References:

(1) https://thewritepractice.com/plot/
(2) https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-are-the-elements-of-a-narrative-arc-and-how-do-you-create-one-in-writing/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Karen Cioffi is an award-winning children’s author, working ghostwriter, rewriter, and coach (picture, chapter, and middle-grade books). If you need help with your story, visit Writing for Children with Karen Cioffi.

You can check out Karen's fiction books HERE.

You can connect with Karen at:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karencioffiventrice
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kcioffiventrice/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karencioffikidlitghostwriter/