'How do I avoid an Idiot Plot?

I had read the trope page for idiot plot but it also made me realizes ways that my story can be taken apart. I want to/still trying to think of a good story but the examples on the trope page made me realize that sthis trope cna just as easily apply to me or anyone else. How do I avoid the bovious traps? Or avoid the idiot plot altogether?

You're going to need to go into more detail, although I find the best way to avoid an Idiot Plot in general is to make your work character-driven rather then plot-driven. If there is no all-powerful plot to override everything else, then there will never be a need to make your characters act like idiots for it to work.

Never stop asking "why".

Why would my character do that?

Why do I want my character to do that?

Why would this happen, logically?

Why did X happen and not Z?

You have to constantly question everything. You need to pick your own story apart worse than the critics, the readers, the fanboys, the publishers . . . EVERYBODY.

edited 17th Jul '11 6:04:12 PM by KingZeal

Seconding questioning everything.

Also, analyze the results of as many (re)actions to situations as you can.

For instance, you second-guess yourself, and have figured out why Bob would do Action A in Situation X. That's all fine and dandy, but make sure to check up on Possible Actions B, C, D, E, and F to see if any of those would make more sense for Bob's character and Situation X than A.

Get a beta reader, not someone who is your friend necessarily. they should be someone who will point out when something isn't working or is just stupid, albeit nicely.

edited 17th Jul '11 8:08:37 PM by TheEmeraldDragon

I would volunteer, but I've heard that I'm a dick.

Don't bend the rules of the universe or have someone blow up without provocation just to make the plot work. If the plot doesn't work by the characters acting in accordance with their personalities then it's just a badly conceived plot and you should think of what would make better sense. trying to shoe horn things in is a good way to get an Idiot Plot or turn characters into Mary Sues. Essentially don't throw the Idiot Ball around.

Get yourself a critic, someone with attention to detail, and ask him to read your work and give you insight. Once you´ve analyzed the data provided by the critic, make the changes you deem appropiate, then re read your own work, critically, and make further modifications as you see fit.

Then, read your work once again, make more corrections (at least in my experience, every time you read your work you´ll find that there are errors you didn´t notice before), and pass it once more to your critic. Repeat the above steps until you´re satisfied with the result. If possible, try to get more than one critic.

It´s tedious as hell, but it´s the only way I think things will work.

Ask yourself what you would do in your character's shoes (assuming you're not an idiot yourself).

That doesn't always work, if your character is supposed to be different or more knowledgeable than you are.

Characters are generally not expected to behave like their creator. If somebody calls me out on something, my response would be to turn bright red and freeze. My characters' reactions run the gamut from bursting into tears or saying "Yeah?" to snarking and saying something hammy and arrogant.

Also, about using critics: it works, definitely, but I've found too many times that unless they are professionals, most people don't give you good feedback on what you're doing right or wrong. A lot of the time, they don't know how to critique, or they're so used to certain conventions that they don't question when you use them. I've been writing consistently for 21 years (not professionally) and I only recently discovered that adverbs are a bad thing.

edited 19th Jul '11 12:54:46 AM by TheMidnightTroper

Avoiding Idiot plots is easy, if you start from the beginning. Here's what I would do. Start first by writing profiles of the characters, this can let you work through their personalities. Once the profiles are done, come up with a premise and start writing the plot points in chronological order and figure out how the characters are going to react to each point that either involves them or someone they are close to. You see by starting with the characters first, you can make a plot that's driven by characters who act in the way that's natural and realistic, not the way that is contrived and unbelievable.

Whenever you concieve any part of your story, ask yourself; would the characters involved really act that way given all the information they have at hand? If not, either see where the characters' true actions would lead you, or if it leads nowhere, rewrite the scene, this time with different characters, or work in a natural way for the part of the story to turn out how it did. If you do this, you will greatly lower the chances you have of creating an Idiot Plot.

Remember that hindsight is 20/20, so some nerdy little reader sitting in his basement is likely to call Real Life an Idiot Plot if he thinks it's a story.

My advice: Don't have the characters act like idiots, especially if they aren't supposed to be idiots. Don't force them to behave in ways they wouldn't necessarily otherwise.

Never mind.

edited 18th Sep '11 4:09:25 AM by TheEmeraldDragon

The thing about the concept of the Idiot Plot is that it hinges on a premise that requires the characters to do something that they probably would not do. On the other hand, if the plot is triggered by and follows on a stupid thing that someone does that plays off of a preexisting flaw in the characters' personalities, then it is not an Idiot Plot but "A Comedy Of Errors"... the difference between which this wiki seems not to acknowledge, but I digress.

And Knowing Is Half the Battle. Now eat your vegetables.

edited 18th Sep '11 11:57:27 AM by JHM