Response to Reviews:

Faye: Oh don't worry about the 6 chapters things; it was part of the original plan, but if the other readers ask for any other lessons to be covered, it might extend a bit. I'll try to keep things light and playful like you said =)

The High-Fives for Nothing: Yeah, if they're meant to be texting in the story then they can text talk all they want. And I forgot to mention you've got a cool username.

Sierra156: Ngawww, thanks for complementing my grammar; it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, haha. And I agree with you that when people drag their words out it's annoying.

Sgt. Sporky: I totally agree, Twilight is one of the few books I regret reading; heck I didn't make it through half. I hate it when people just throw the importance of a plot away just so two people can live happily ever after. Nice food analysis, by the way!

KAT: Well in the rules it says you have to be at least thirteen to sign up for an account, but I never quite understood why. I guess it's so that some stories with inappropriate content can't be accidentally read by a kid and Fanfiction can't be sued for corruption of minors, but then regardless of whether you have an account or not you can read the stories. I do think it's best though to wait for your 13th birthday before you sign up.

Knight Mistress: I know that feeling of finding grammar mistakes after you posted the chapter or whatever. Oh and thank you! I'm glad you find it awesome!

Fnick Girl: Well the part about Max being pregnant and Fang leaving to protect them is cliché, but the part about the baby dying is not.

MydniteShadow1996: Luckily, not yet. I've seen summaries in text talk, but no full stories in the MR archive. I can't say the same for some other books' fanfics though; I've actually seen one in the Percy Jackson archive, it was nasty.

Lesson 6: Plot and Plot Holes

The plot is one of the primary elements to a story; you can't have a story with no plot, that's impossible. Some of you might think that coming up with a plot is easy, but the truth is it's not. Coming up with an idea for a story is different from coming up with a plot. When you come up with a plot, you have to know how to start it, how you want it to end, and how you're going to get there.

Here's an example based on The Angel Experiment:

Idea: A book about kids with wings on the run from crazy scientists on the run.

Plot: Max and the Flock live in an E-shaped house in the mountains of Colorado. One day, Angel is kidnapped as the Flock is attacked by Erasers, deadly half-men and half-wolf creatures; the Flock embark on a rescue mission to save Angel.

When you write a story or a book, it always helps to have a basic idea of what you're doing. Try writing one of those summaries like you do for book reports. Don't worry about too much detail, that you make up as you go along, but at least think of a start and an end. That way, you don't go writing blindly without knowing where you're going. You see, I always find that those cool stories with plot twists that leave you with your mouth open are often those that are able to plant those plot twists because they have an idea how they want things to play out.

This might not be true for all authors though, some find it easier to come up with an idea and just keep moving forward like that. My advice is that you should try both, find out which works for you best because in the end that's what matters. Planning the story out though, is an excellent way to keep writer's block away.

Anyway, moving on to the other part of the lesson: plot holes. Once you've written a story you've got to keep it consistent.

Plot holes are basically inconsistencies in a story; they're things that go against logic and your basic story line. Have you ever had moments where you watch a TV show regularly but miss an episode or two and go "Wow, how the H E double hockey sticks did that happen?" Well plot holes are like that. Events or fact that go against the story or unexplained occurrences that leaves people scratching their heads/

For example, let's say in your previous chapter you wrote that Max was in California, you can't go changing your mind later on in the story and go, "Whoops! Did I say California? I meant Arizona." Another example is this: Max slipped and broke her leg in one chapter, then next thing you know she's good as new without any explanation. You have to keep things consistent with your story line, and you should never just go from one event to another without any explanation.

A good tip is to look back at your story from time to time to make sure you don't change anything by accident. Like you said Max couldn't sing in one chapter, make sure she doesn't get up on stage and sing her heart out (unless Max is drunk, which would be pretty funny to see.) Always watch out for little things like that because your readers will notice.

Once, I accidentally put Fang's last name as Ride and also made Max's last name Ride, then one reviewer told me that the chances of two people, who are complete strangers, with the same last name will ever meet, much less fall in love. I was like "FAIL!" That was a major plot hole right there.

The best thing to do with plot holes is to reread your story and make sure that your future chapters are *all together now* CONSISTENT!

If you do spot a plot hole in your story then fix it, no matter how far you've gone since the plot hole. The readers won't appreciate the fact that you get those things wrong in your own story, so put it in an author's note or something that you changed whatever.

You are now on your final lesson (unless there's any other stuff you guys want me to cover) and I hope you learned some stuff from it! I hope I did a good job of explaining everything and that I've helped you in any way whatsoever.

As I said, this is the last lesson but if you guys have any other things you want covered then I might add a chapter or two. We'll see, but I will update this chapter and add responses to your reviews below (assuming there's anything to respond too.)

-Indy