Plot Holes So Big You Could Drive a Truck Through Them (and how you patch them).

Happy Tuesday everyone, and welcome to another installment of Plot Holes & Panic Buttons. Today, we are diving headfirst into the one thing we as writers never want to deal with. The dreaded plot hole… *que dramatic music* Honestly, it isn’t that we don’t want to deal with it, it's just not something we like to acknowledge.  

Writers don’t always like to admit it, but sometimes the story we’re pouring our soul into springs a leak the size of the Grand Canyon. We might not notice it right away but when a character magically knows something they shouldn’t, when time lines don't add up, when an impossible detail slips before it’s time, or when a reader raises their hand and says: “Wait a second… how did they get from point A to point B?” or “According to the established magic system they should have known this was their mate already.”

Plot holes are the bane of a storyteller’s existence, but it is also what teaches us to slow down and look closer. Because let’s face facts, some of us write so fast we don’t see the cracks right away. Sometimes someone has to point it out to us. And by the time we see it; it’s big enough to drive an 18-wheeler through it with room on either side.

They creep in while we’re distracted with getting the draft done as fast as humanly possible, pantsing with wild ambition, and yes, even meticulously outlining. They aren’t always mistakes born of laziness. Sometimes they’re just the natural side effect of creating complex worlds and flawed human characters. But the truth is, once a reader falls into a hole, it’s hard to climb back out. And it's the only damn thing they concentrate on, which pulls them out of the rich world and complex characters we have created. 

I know this all too well, as I am guilty of it. Details I don’t think are that important happen to be the only ones people get hung up on. Having to go back and explain each time, becomes a headache and a half which runs you in circles.

So, how do we fix them, you might be asking? Without ripping the entire manuscript apart, causing a mental breakdown, or letting imposter syndrome take center stage. Let’s talk about patches. 

1. Spotting the Sinkholes Early

The first step is being honest about where your story feels like it’s soft or as I like to say squishy. If someone stepped on it would they fall through or would it hold their weight. For my crime show people: If you had to defend that scene in court, could you? Would your characters’ decisions hold up under cross-examination, is your evidence strong enough or would the jury laugh you out of the room?

Most of the time, I overly fixate on these problems once I see them. If you ask any of my friends, they will tell you I can’t move on from this problem, because for me, I now have to remember what was supposed to go there. Or why it’s not being understood when I said it in plain Penguin.  

Izzy, especially, has to break it down with a series of questions to get me to see the bigger picture and remind me not everyone is a gearhead. Not everyone grew up around classic cars and bikes. Which apparently is one of my trademarks, strong ass females and some sort of classic. Izzy also loves to call me out every gap my subconscious forgot to fill in on the page.

Okay, You have found the issues but now how do you fix them, without pulling your hair out. On to Step 2.

2. The Patchwork Quilt Method

Not every hole needs a total rewrite. Sometimes it just needs a subtle tweak. All it takes is a line or two of dialogue, adjusting the narration a smidgy bit to sew the edges together. Think of this process more like saving your favorite pair of jeans. 

Continuity errors? Drop in a sentence that clarifies timing or geography. 

Knowledge gaps? Let a character overhear, research, or be told what they “shouldn’t” know. 

Unlikely behavior? Add a moment of hesitation, frustration, or justification that shows why the character still went that route. Sometimes just alluding to danger can fix it right up.

Think of it like spackling a wall; you don’t have to rebuild the whole house to cover a crack. You're just throwing a patch and some mud and calling it a damn day. Because sometimes it’s just that damn serious, unless you let it get that way.

3. Lean Into It

Here’s a sneaky trick: sometimes the best fix is to make the hole intentional. If something feels implausible, what if your characters notice too? A “why would you do that?” moment lampshades the issue and gives you time to reveal the reasoning later. (Make sure there is going to be a reason later though. No need to do this if you're not going to do it right.)

Readers forgive a lot if they trust that you know what’s going on, even if they don’t. Suspense thrives on withheld answers. But in the same flip of the coin, you can lose all kinds of readers if they don’t get their answers.

4. The Hard Truth: Rewrite When You Must

Of course, not every hole is patchable with duct tape and a prayer. Sometimes you discover that an entire subplot, timeline, or motivation is built on sand. That’s when you have to be brave enough to bulldoze and rebuild. I like to call it salvage what you can and burn the rest. 

Yes, it hurts. Yes, it will make you cry. But remember: no reader ever said, “I wish the author had left that gaping contradiction in there.”

5. Futureproofing Your Story

To avoid holes before they start, keep a “story bible” or continuity doc. Track timelines, ages, relationships, and rules of your world. You don’t have to be obsessive, but jotting down those details saves you from having your hero’s eye color change three times or accidentally breaking the laws of your own magic system. Or in my case, renaming three characters four times. And never remember who is who.

Thankfully with 4 Queens for 4 Kings Series, Izzy has the all holy bible. I am not trusted in the amount of Chaos I write in.

At the End of the Day… Plot holes don’t make you a bad writer. They make you a human writer. Every single book you love once had early drafts with cracks big enough to swallow semis. The only difference is, those authors patched them before you ever saw the pages.

So when you find yourself staring at one of those yawning chasms in your own work, don’t panic. Grab your toolbox/ sewing kit. Spackle, Lampshade, or full demolition crew and get to work. This is going to make you a better writer if you let it. You are differently going to learn a lot about how your brain works. And maybe next time you won't have to pay the demo crew overtime. 

Your readers will never know how many trucks you had to haul out of there. They’ll just remember the smooth road you left behind. 

Be Brave, Be Bold, But Always Stay Humble.