5 Plot Fixes for Peace Makers

Katherine Patterson once said that her plotting is like using a paper clip to scratch a pattern into rock. Sometimes, I agree. I want to plot and I want to make things worse for my characters, but I am a Peace Maker.

Here are 5 pledges we Peace makers need to make when facing plots.

1. I will not practice the Golden Rule. I will not do unto my characters as I would have them do unto me. I am really a nice person and I want my characters to be treated well. No more. I pledge to be nasty and cruel to my antagonist for the duration of this story.



2. I will not be polite. Nope. I won’t say Thanks, You’re Welcome. I won’t let them go first in line, open the door for them or any of the other things that polite society demands. Instead, they can heave open heavy doors, wait in line for hours, and be totally overlooked for what they have done. They get no credit, no niceness.
3. I will not resolve any issue before the last chapter. Instead, I will work to find complications, ways to raise the stakes, and make it matter more.
4. I will not let my characters get what they want. They don’t really want it anyway, you know, they need to grow and their needs will change. But even those new needs, no way, they don’t get whatever that is easily. I will thwart them at every turn and in the end, only hint at the character’s success.
5. I will not allow any peaceful moments in the story, they will be full of tension. I know I am a Peace Maker and love peaceful moments, but I won’t let that happen in my story. No way. Not peaceful. Tense.

I pledge these things to my new story. Plot, I need you to be great!