Writing Blog Number 2 (continued)

20260130 7 Worst Types Of Plot Holes

7 Worst Types Of Plot Holes

This comes from an old video by author Brandon McNulty, who I have taken ideas from before, but in this case, I am taking it and adapting the whole thing (in my own words and with my own asides) because he has covered everything and put it together better than I ever could.

What is a plot hole?
This is an inconsistency, or even a contradiction, in a story that is never explained, it something the breaks the rules of the story’s universe, when a character acts out of character from what we have been shown, when the timeline does not make sense, or things in general that are simply not resolved (even taking into account potential sequels).
         Plot-holes are generally oversights, and come about from poor editing, or over-editing. They can also be simple mistakes. While some people think they don’t matter, they can take a person out of the immersion a story demands. The reader/ viewer then no longer trusts the story-teller.
         Remember, though, if a story is engaging enough, a plot hole can be overlooked by the audience, and they will often come up with ingenious ways of solving it themselves.

1) Obvious solution that is ignored
This is when characters have a clear solution that is obvious and in plain sight in the story, but do something more convoluted anyway. Occam’s razor works; this plot hole says otherwise.
         For example, in the film version of You Only Live Twice, instead of shooting James Bond and feeding his body to the crocodiles, the bad guy puts him on an island so the crocs can eat him that way… and Bond escapes by using their scaly backs as a makeshift bridge because of course he does.

2) Off-screen solution that is ignored
This is when an obvious solution exists off-screen, but is ignored by the characters. This could be special knowledge or skills, an advantage offered by the setting, or a system the hero knows to utilise.
         For example, in Die Hard 2, the plane is stuck in a holding pattern over Washington DC and could run out of fuel. I live half a world away and even I know there’s 2 or 3 alternate airports the plane could have gone to, thus rendering the terrorist’s plan moot.

3) Continuity issues
Simple errors here, like a gun firing 10 instead of 6 bullets, people not recognising one another, knowledge told in a previous scene forgotten, not knowing a house they were in ten scenes earlier, little things like that. These are editing things, and beta readers should pick them up.
         A classic example is the site of Dr Watson’s war wound in the Doyle Sherlock Holmes books, which is in the shoulder or the leg, depending on the tale.

4) Inconsistent magic or technology
This is my personal biggest bugbear. No matter what is introduced that is not human – alien life forms, technology, magic, super-powers, whatever – there need to be rules and limits, and these being broken, or suddenly unable to do anything breaks the reality the story is trying to imbue. Also, consider the collateral effects.
         For example, in Superman IV: Quest For Peace suddenly Superman can rebuild walls with his mind or powers or whatever. Nowhere in the previous three films has this even been hinted, and suddenly, there it is. Or anything that happens in Lightlark and its appalling sequels.

5) Characters acting out of character
This is one most readers/ viewers notice. The character seems to be an imposter or to have become an idiot. They say and do things they are not established as doing. They ask dumb questions. They make choices that go against the flow. They even forget skills they showed earlier. If a character is under pressure, is panicking, things like that, mistakes happen, and poor decisions can be made. But this goes beyond that.
         For example, in whatever that awful Star Wars film was, when Luke threatens to kill his own nephew in his sleep, thus turning him to the dark side – that was not the Luke we saw in the past. (But I think those films were designed to make Luke look bad anyway – character destruction by the studio.)

6) Abandoned subplots
As it says on the tin – when subplots are left unresolved, and so the story as a whole feels in complete.
         For example, in The Room, the whole breast cancer thing and Danny and the drug dealer are just glossed over and ignored.

7) Large-scale stupidity
That is McNulty’s term, and it is when the whole premise of a work is based on flawed logic, when the whole thing raises more questions than are ever answered or even acknowledged.
         For example, Signs has aliens come to conquer Earth. But they have an allergy to water. So why come to a planet covered 70% by water, with water making up 0.25% of the atmosphere, and the chance of rain ever-present in the area they landed in? The whole concept makes no sense.

And that is plot-holes!