Weekly Plot Help - November 17th

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

I was waiting until the server move happened before putting this up. I'd have gone crazy if it had been lost.

Anyway - here's the place for you to look for help with your plots! Post your questions here.

And hey... all you people already over 50K? YES I'M LOOKING AT YOU! Get in here and help these people out now that you don't have anything else to do! *grin*

Comments

[perfectinpart.livejournal.com]

I'm writing a novel in diary form. Basically, the novel is about a girl who is forced to live with her dad on his boat. He sails around the coastal cities in Mexico, and he's a drug mule for a "bad guy" named Mr. X. Mr. X doesn't like that my MC is in the picture, and has threatened to kill her if the dad doesn't remove her from the picture. She's just been beaten up by some hit-men. The main climax in the story is when my MC finds out her dad is a drug mule and they come up with a plan for getting away from Mr. X (the dad has been trying to leave the "business" but is worried about his safety as well as his daughter's safety if he does, since Mr. X won't let him quit). The last 10k or so will be basically the resolution (trying to get away but being boarded by Mr. X's hit-men, and discovering that they "broke" his boat so they are trapped. The dad's partner turns out to be an undercover cop and busts Mr. X while letting MC's dad go free... blah blah blah they move to Ireland and start a new life under new identities).

Right now I'm at 34k and I need to fill a few thousand words with "in between" plot. Once I get to the meaty part of the story, it will only be 5k-10k before I finish it. With it being in diary form, I'm having a hard time with filler, and have already had her and her boyfriend have "issues" twice. I have no idea what to write as filler that won't take too much away from the story.

Any ideas?

[mteson.livejournal.com]

I was about to suggest a romantic subplot with a Mexican boy she meets in one of the coastal cities, and you can parallel her coming of age there with her realization that her Dad is not Mr. Perfect, making it a coming of age story as well as a drug thriller, but then you mentioned the boyfriend. Maybe you can ditch the boyfriend and introduce a new romantic interest, something that spurs her to think in a way she's never thought before?