9 Plot Mistakes Every New Fantasy Writer Makes

I've edited a lot of fantasy novels this year - here's the most common plot mistakes I find.

⏲️ TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Introduction
00:35 - Beating the antagonist too early
02:13 - Repetitive scene formats
04:01 - Passive protagonist
05:20 - Weak throughline
08:15 - Soggy middle
13:56 - Weak consequences
15:00 - Misaligning the 3 Ps
15:52 - The peter-out ending
17:36 - Lucky breaks for the protagonist

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[nbplayer]

Counterpoint to Beating the Antagonist early: You could set it up so that the Antagonist is incredibly sore and bitter over their defeat, and this motivates them to go on their own villainous underdog journey and become a legit threat when they encounter the protagonist again. Case in point: The Spot from Across the Spiderverse

[FabbeNJ]

There’s a lot of times I don’t feel motivated to write, then I watch one of your videos and I immediately want to write again. Thank you

[rcschmidt]

Good reference on active vs. passive protagonists. Bilbo Baggins started very passive and grew out of it.

[krisjustbegun]

It's funny how Across the spiderverse subverts the first mistake (beating your antagonist too early). Miles easily beats Spot pretty early on and dismisses him as a threat only for him to become one of the main antagonists

[jorrit_]

I was going into this thinking he was going to say "Dragons should not be put in a story, they take away tension/stakes etc.". Meanwhile I was sitting here with an unfinished (of course) story about wealth hoarding dragons, sweating bullets, waiting for that point to come up. I was pleasantly surprised.

[dameanvil]

00:28 🛡️ Be cautious about introducing and defeating the antagonist too early; it can diminish suspense and character growth.
02:17 📋 Vary scene formats to keep reader engagement and maintain conflict progression.
04:06 🏃‍♂️ Ensure your protagonist makes active choices; passive protagonists can stall the plot's momentum.
05:30 🗝️ Establish a clear through line, defining the core conflict to avoid meandering and purposeless subplots.
08:18 🐌 Avoid a "soggy middle" by maintaining progression and purpose; consider a seven-point plot structure for better guidance.
14:08 ⚔️ Challenge characters with adversity to reveal their true depth and create reader connection.
15:06 🔄 Align the promise, progress, and payoff to maintain a natural flow in your narrative.
16:01 🪢 Condense the resolution of plot threads to create a more impactful and dynamic climax.
17:39 🎲 Avoid relying on luck to save the protagonist; instead, use it to create challenges and obstacles for them.

[masscreationbroadcasts]

An alternative for beating the antagonist early, it could be beating the 5th in the chain of command, and then being crushed by the 3rd later.

[TheDoomKnight]

Everytime I feel like I'm writing my book wrong, one of your videos pop up and reminds me to just keep doing what I'm doing. Thanks for all the advice you provide on this channel, they're a tremendous help!

[m.j.johnsonbooks]

Hey, I made almost all of these mistakes in my first drafts! Pretty shocking that fixing them made my story way better.

[lonelytask]

If I had to summarize act 2, I would say:

Make the third act as great as possible (raise the stakes). When writing Act 2, you can significantly heighten the emotions and tension for Act 3. I think the reason why there are so few detailes about the middle part in this storystructure, is because it really depends on all the other stuff in your novel.
Act 2 is very subjective which is probably why beginners really tend to struggle with this. But I have heard many writers say that as they started to dive really deep into act 2, the middle actually became their most favorite part of the process.

Great Video!

[heatherkline]

17:16 an author who does the "tie together plot treads" very well is Charles Dickens. He makes you wait for it, but his last chapter or two is always worth it.

[thelionsshare]

ON "beating an enemy too early, " bingo! In pro-wrestling, promotions used to be structured to introduce both heroes and villains going through a number of jobbers, guys who lose every week on TV. This establishes the character and abilities of both opponents. Then there are the set-up feuds, where they each face a much bigger threat, and we see how they deal with that. And then finally they face each other.

[klaykid]

Your first is really good I'm surprised you didn't mention The Force Awakens with how Rey beat Kylo Ren in their first meeting weakening him as a villain

[robbagel]

In terms of story structure, I like to use an arc structure. Basically, several interwoven subplots each contributing to the themes and larger story, but each had its own unique side characters and arcs and such. I find it keeps constant engagement

[michaelmorris]

@9:30 Suzanne Collins had a different solution to the soggy middle in The Hunger Games. Beyond the fact there are 3 books, each book roughly subdivides into 3 sections of 9 chapters each. But those sections in turn split roughly into 3 short stories, causing a pattern of each chapter being an act.

[VizAkiraVA]

Writing my high fantasy novel right now, and I am learning a lot from your videos!!

[Aeradyren]

Your 7-point structure just gave me the biggest breakthrough, thank you! I've been struggling with not feeling like the three-act structure was working for my novel.

[samwisegamgee]

1:45 I’ve heard a story once about a very powerful antagonist called Sauron who suffered a huge defeat.
He came back weaker but the author chose to make the protagonist unable to beat him.

The main plot line in Tolkien’s universe is literally the idea that for defeating the antagonist, free people need to become less powerful. It started with Valar’s war against Melkor and ended with 3 weak hobbits sneaking into the enemy stronghold.

And all the story power of the Lord of the Rings, the book version I mean, comes from the idea that, to really defeat him, confrontation with the many times beaten antagonist need to be avoided.
The usual structure in fantasy stories is a protagonist slowly becoming stronger in order to finally defeat the antagonist.
And yet, the greatest fantasy universe is built about the idea that all the most powerful beings (valar, high elves, edain…) renounce to use their power to let the weakest ones do the job…

[LuckySketches]

Antagonist goes down in chapter 1. The real antagonist was the crushing loneliness of a life without purpose.

[CandyFantastic]

Your videos have been extremely helpful in helping me dust off old skills and learn new ones to apply to my writing. Thank you for making these! 🤘🏻🦄