January 16th, 2013 at 8:58PM
asker

waywardvictoriankhaleesi asked: Hi Neil, I'm a huge fan of your work. I was wondering if you could give me some writing advice. I'm stuck about 2/3 of the way through a first draft, and I've got plot threads running all over the place. Do you have any suggestions on what I can do to bring them all back to my central plot? Thanks in advance! -April

Make a list of what has to happen to get you to the end of the story. Write down all the dangling plot threads and ways you can resolve each one. Look for ways that you can deal with several plot threads at the same time.

I tend to be less concerned with how things happen than with what has to happen to people, so I list my plot threads by people. I write down things like “Fat Charlie has to SING.”

And then start writing again. Good luck.

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