Ninth Day of Class

"Hey guys," Professor KRenee greeted as she strolled into the classroom, acting as though she hadn't been completely horrible about her updating schedule over the past few months. Several of the students smiled at her, some waved, all of them silently cheered that she'd managed to get two classes in one month (likely to make up for missing September). She did her customary dumping of all the things she'd been carrying onto the table, swiftly moved through the attendance, and glanced over the notes.

Once she had finished that, she walked around to the front of the table and sat down on the edge of it. "Alright, so, today we're going to be going over the things you should avoid doing with your plot. I've given you quite a few pointers on what you should do, but I haven't really given you a clear list of what you shouldn't do."

The students nodded, pencils and pens at the ready. "Firstly, don't ever kill all the characters or otherwise ax the story in order to end it." She instructed. "If you get to the point in your story when you ought to be ending it, and you don't know what to do, stop writing and think on it for a while. If you have to, go on a six month hiatus while you ponder the matter. But do not just kill everyone to get out of having to think of an ending. When you start a story, you're making a promise to your readers. You're promising them that you will give them an ending that makes the rest of the story worth reading."

The familiar rowdy redhead's hand shot up into the air, and KRenee looked over at her expectantly. "What about dropping a story?"

The professor pondered that question for a moment before replying, "Dropping a story is much like axing an ending. If you've got devoted readers, they're gonna be pissed that you dropped the story because you made them a promise and you broke it." She explained. "I've dropped a lot of stories since I started writing. Luckily for me, the stories I dropped didn't have much of a following because they were horrible. The only exception is Something Else, which had my biggest following. I stopped it in the middle of a sequence of events that takes place after the end of the story, but I did that because I decided - after not writing in it for a few months - that I was going to rewrite the story. So I did. Now I have completed my first good novel-length story, Something New."

"Moving on," she continued. "The second thing you should avoid is using stupid characters and solutions to replace or fix plot holes. If you need your character to learn something that's pretty important to the plot, but people aren't supposed to tell him about it for whatever reason, don't just make him eavesdrop. Don't just have some moron of an extra spill the beans for no good reason. Think of a clever solution to every situation."

No one had any questions about that, so KRenee continued. "Next: if your plot is so lame that it will only work if you make your hero an idiot, you need to rethink your plot. I know I've said this before, but stupid heroes are stupid. I don't know about everyone else in the world, to be honest, but a stupid hero will only piss me off," she said, her voice taking on a stern tone. "I didn't like Naruto for that reason. I didn't like One Piece either. But I really like Bleach, because Kurosaki Ichigo isn't stupid, he's a delinquent, and those two things do not go hand in hand. I hate Inoue Orihime, because she's annoying and dumb, but she's a reasonably minor character so I can tolerate her presence, and she's the only real idiot in the whole series."

"Next, do not use all-powerful, semi-invincible characters to ensure that the good guys win." She said. "If you want to write a good story where there's a lot of suspense in the final battle, and even throughout the rest of the story, your bad guy ought to be at least as strong, preferably slightly stronger, than your hero or heroine. I think that the best kind of stories are where the good guys are strong enough to hold their own in battle, but they have to outsmart the villain, or work together with a very specific kind of plan in mind. I think a great example of this is actually Big Hero 6. If you haven't already, go watch the final battle in that movie. If you have, take a moment to think about that battle, and you'll see what I mean."

She smiled at them, "'Use those big brains of yours and think your way around the problem. Look for a new angle.'"

There were several nods and chuckles from the students in the room who had seen the movie the professor was referencing. KRenee waited a few minutes for the students to catch up with their note taking (the massive blackboard was writing everything she was saying). When they were done, she nodded at them and continued on with her lecture.

"Avoid 60 hours days," she told them. "Pay attention to the passage of time. If you have to, make a notepad document or something with the number of days that go by as you write the story."

"Next," she said. "Avoid anachronisms - make sure the technology fits the rest of the setting. Don't have the hero of your low tech fantasy suddenly pull out a photon torpedo just so he'll win the fight. Not only is that bad, lazy writing, it doesn't make any god damn sense. "

"The final thing I have to tell you," KRenee paused, smiling. "Is something I've told you a hundred times already: don't be lazy. Lazy writers make sucky stories. They do dumb things to get their protagonists out of difficult situations instead of getting creative. A good example of good, creative writing would be the end of the first Indiana Jones movie.

"The bad guys are strong and numerous; Indy is seriously outnumbered, and it looks like he's totally lost and will end up dead besides. But in the end, the bad guys lose and he wins... not because he beats them up but because he knows stuff, and that totally fits with his character of the archaeology professor." KRenee explained. "Crafting interesting plots is all about creative problem solving. So don't be lazy."

"Well, that's it for today, kiddies, some of whom are probably older than me," she said with a wink. "For your homework tonight, I want you to come up with 10 plot fails from popular media. You can use a TV series, an anime or manga, a movie, a book, or whatever you like. I would like you to explain what happens in the plot fail, why it's a plot fail, and what could've been done to rectify it. Check out the blackboard on your way out if you need clarification."

The students unanimously started packing up to leave, talking to one another as they went. KRenee stacked her papers and laptop back up and tucked them under her arm. For once, she was the first one out of the room.

The Blackboard

- Write down 10 fails or holes in the plots of popular media.

- You can use a television series, an anime or manga, a movie, a book, anything you like.

- Write down what the plot hole or fail is, why it's a plot hole or fail, and what could've been done to patch it up.