PLAYING FAIR WITH PLOT

Good stories have lots of moving parts. Today, Jan Fields challenges us to get all the parts to come together in a way that works. Many writers understand that a good plot requires giving your main character something to want or need, and that the character then needs to do stuff. A story without action of any kind isn’t much of a story and most writers get that pretty early in the process of learning to write fiction. And we also realize early on that a good story eventually fulfills the want or need for the main character. But there’s a bit more to it than that, and one additional element is that you must play fair with the reader. Let’s look at what that means.