Part 1

Where does a story start? How does an author pick where to begin?

Why did Tolkien start with Bilbo's journey? How did McCaffrey decide the 9th Pass was where to begin her series?

Most stories I have read have some kind of "lore" or "ancient legends" that get mentioned throughout their books.

Elizabeth Moon in her Paksennarion series mentions the legend of Gird (who rallied the peasants against the Magelords), Falk (who labored for years for a cruel master to save his family), Camwyn (who tamed or got rid of the dragons), and Torrie (who has a constellation named for her famous necklace). Ms. Moon wrote the Gird story, possibly after her first novels, but Camwyn and Torrie are mere mentions.

Tolkien wrote the Silmarillion that had lore galore that he based everything else off of, and I think he wrote that all out first, before ever starting on The Hobbit.

McCaffrey had in her first books the legend of Moreta. When she actually got around to writing it all out, there were many "discrepancies" between what she had casually mentioned and what she later wrote. She is kind of famous for this, with fans coining the phrase "McCaffrey-ism" to help explain some of her more noticeable "changes."

So, an author wants to write a book. Where do they begin? Can you "notice" when an author is making stuff up on the fly and later may contradict what they originally wrote and wonder, "Why?"

I know... many authors write many different series of books, may have many different "worlds" to keep track of, but really?

Part 2

Plot Holes. What many see as "plot holes" I have come to realize are just different ways of thinking. Yes, there are some terrible "plot holes" that exist with no good explanations, but many of them are just a character not acting like the reader would.

"What a stupid thing to do!" is a common complaint with storylines. I see this often in movies. Horror flicks where the "kids" go down to the basemant is a common one and has become a cliche/trope/joke But, if you consider that in this world, these kids have not seen 100's of horror flicks? How would they *know* the basemant is a bad idea.

Often times, information or conjectures that we make as an audience do not occur to a character. Not everyone sees things as we do, or has the ability to put the same info we have to the same conclusion.

I thought about this as I was reading a book and thought, "I would have handled that differently." But then I thought more on it and realized that the "fantasy me", the person I envision myself as, is not always the "real" me in specific situations. For example, I like to think that I would stand up to anything that I thought was wrong. The reality is that I dislike confrontations and pick my battles very carefully. So I may let something slip by. I like to think I'd jump in and stop a beating to a stranger, but if the numbers were against me, I'd just call the police. Also, the reality here is that my adrenaline makes my arms like spaghetti aka: useless

So, when you consider "plot holes", are they truly that, or just a different way of processing the information and reacting to it? Again, I realize that some plot holes are simply holes in the plot line