Story Logic and Plot Holes

In the advent of the Adpocalypse and the rise of AI, it’s been challenging to keep focusing on the site, as I’m sure many of you have noticed. I’ve had to focus on ways of ensuring I get to keep living in my house, rather than having to move into a cardboard box under a bridge somewhere. It’s frustrating because the less time I spend on the site, the less I can work on improving generators and increasing visitors, the lower the revenue, the more time I have to spend offline, the less time I spend on the site…

(That said, if you enjoy using RanGen, please consider whitelisting it in your adblocker! I hate ads as much as the next person, so I’m trying to find options for the least disruptive experience.)

RanGen Can Help YOU!

To that end, I’ve been slowly working on a couple of services that I think people will appreciate. I’ve been offering them on a small scale on Discord primarily to a handful of individuals, but due to the above reasons, I’ve been slow to get them off the ground. But! A recent experience has spurned me to knuckle down and start talking to people about them on a larger scale.

I’ll talk about my second service: being your home-brew game/dungeon master, next time. However, if that piques your interest now, you can contact me via the form or my social medias, linked below!

Just to clarify, I’m not talking about doing existing official TTRPGs like D&D, Call of Cthulu, Warhammer, etc. I’m talking about RolePlaying and and running RPGs based on your own stories and unique worlds! If you ever wanted a wild adventure within a world of your own creation, this is for you. Be sure to make it clear that’s what you want to talk about, so I know it’s not spam.

The Art of Storytelling

I finally got a chance to watch Interstallar (2014) the other day, and I kinda regret it.

Don’t get me wrong; I love the subjects of space, astrophysics, and quantum physics, and while I don’t have the deep scientific knowledge to be able to read and understand formulas and such directly, I do have a decent grasp of a lot of the concepts and phenomena that they relate to. As such, I had no problems understanding the subject matter or the realistic wacky scientific events that took place. I did have a bit of a grounding “Oh yeah, for some people, this is REALLY complex and makes NO sense, even with the simplified explanations in the film…” moment when I saw people in the comments talking about being completely confused about basically everything that happened, which was interesting.

I have no problems with the scientific aspects of the film.

What I DO have problems with are the questionable, and, in my opinion, downright stupid actions of many of the characters in the film, as well as choices made in the storytelling in order to advance the plot. It takes a really serious scenario and a bunch of characters who, by the very nature of them being scientists and astronauts, are supposed to be super smart, and just casually ignores all logic and reason for dramatic/emotional storytelling. This leaves more perceptive, detail-oriented, logical, or cynical viewers, or viewers who generally want a baseline of realistic behaviour in their stories, to wonder what the heck they just watched. There were only a few comments about it, but people complained about walking away from the film (or wanting to) for these reasons.

Feeling and Drama vs Story Logic

A lot of people don’t care about realism and logic in their stories. They just want to enjoy the ‘vibes’. For some people, trying to be realistic ruins things. Others are swept up in the emotional waves of the storytelling, and will cry for characters, regardless of how or why the characters ended up in that situation.

Other people simply don’t notice. And all of that is fine. There’s no ‘correct’ way to write a story, nor a ‘correct’ way to consume it. If one person tells a story, and one other person likes it, then technically, it was a success.

But, is it not possible to have a dramatic, emotional, fantastical story that still treats the readers and characters with respect, and refrains from making stupid leaps in logic in order to achieve its goals?

This is something I’ve been helping creative writers with recently.

Logical Suspension of disbelief

I am very much a logical person. You’d be hard-pressed to get me to act emotionally about anything.

It’s funny; in writing, the advice is “show, don’t tell”, and when it comes to expressing themselves, most people will do things that lets would see how they feel; squealing and jumping up and down, bursting into tears and collapsing, throwing things or knocking things over… But, for me, it’s the opposite.

I’m unlikely to have a strong emotional reaction at all, and am likely to straight up tell you if I’m feeling happy, sad, or angry. Naturally being resistant to emotional outbursts like that helps to stay balanced amongst the chaos, especially all the fighting online. It’s a very interesting way of being, but it’s also very freeing.

(But, back to writing and storytelling, I also cannot stand romance for this reason. The whole genre is about emotion and connection and feelings and tension, and being overwhelmed by them, and it’s really not something that speaks to me at all. It’s frustrating in fact, because I wish that they’d just get to the point by properly communicating at an earlier stage! Romantic tension and will-they-won’t-they character relationships are the worst! (In my opinion. 😀))

But, being this way; logical, realist and emotionally… controlled? Dulled? It gives me an advantage when it comes to making sure that even the most outlandish stories still make sense. I can nit-pick logical issues and challenge emotional plot points to make sure stories are much more watertight. You NEED these characters to die? A critical event HAS to happen? Something that normally does happen doesn’t in THIS specific situation? Are these things essential for your story to be able to progress? No problem.

Story Logic Critiques & Plot Fixing

So you’re writing your story, or have already written it. The spelling and grammar are up to scratch. The beta readers seem to like the reading experience; the vibes are good. Your friends and family said it’s great. But, how well does it do in a stress-test from an external, more critical source?

My service aims to help round out your stories and highlight issues that may not have been noticed. My goal is not to pick apart your story to destroy it, but to point out flaws and gaps so that you can fix them to make your story studier. I am offering constructive criticism AND solutions to the problems I uncover. Depending on what service you want, can give simple feedback to act on, if you wish, or, work with you directly to resolve issues.

I can come up with ways to ensure that whatever you need to happen is implemented in a way that makes sense. That is realistic. That respects the rules, both of logic, reason, and whatever you’ve already established in your story’s own world. Methods that are not simply cliché, or worse; contrived.

I can:

• Help you avoid plot holes, and can ask critical questions that you may not have considered.
• Analyse a scene, the whole plot, a character and their storyline and motivations; whatever focus you want.
• Offer simple suggestions, or work with you on an ongoing basis.

Who This Is For

You don’t need to be aiming to be a traditionally published, best-selling author; this service is for everyone. Whether you’re posting chapters on Wattpad or Royal Road, preparing a manuscript for querying, self-publishing your passion project, or just writing for the pure joy of it; if you care about your story making sense and being able to hold together under scrutiny, then this is for you. Hobbyists welcome. Aspiring professionals welcome. Anyone in between, equally welcome.

What I’m NOT Offering

I am not:

• A proofreader, so I may point out the odd typo or grammar, but that’s not my focus.
• A beta-reader, so I won’t specifically give feedback on how I felt during the reading experience.
• An editor, so I won’t be writing or cleaning up your text for you.

What I offer is a separate, 4^th branch that is complementary to those others.

Pricing & Getting Started

I offer several tiers to suit different needs and budgets. To begin with, you can book an overview consultation where we discuss your plot and I give basic feedback to take away. For those who want a comprehensive analysis, I can read your manuscript and provide written feedback and solutions. For more complex problems, I can work with you step-by-step to resolve any and all issues as we go along.

As I’m newly making this an official service now, I’m running launch prices; now’s your chance to get in early while I build my portfolio of reviews! You can find full pricing details and booking information below.

And, for those who support RanGen via Patreon, additional discounts are available.

Ready to Get Fixin’?

So if you’ve ever been frustrated by a story, or worse; are worried readers may be frustrated by yours, then lets talk. I’m here to help you tighten up your story whilst keeping the elements that make it yours. I’m here to offer constructive solutions, not judgement.

Ready to book a session, or have questions about whether this service is right for you? Contact me below. I’m happy to discuss what you’re working on and to answer you questions, and I look forward to being able to help!