The Four C’s: A Framework for Revising Your Novel
Trying to plot an engaging novel? All you need are the four C’s.
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I talk a lot about revision on this blog. By now, I hope you’re sold on the idea that revision is A) a separate process from editing and B) vitally important within your writing process. No idea what I’m talking about? Check out these recent blog posts:
Alright, now that we’re on the same page. Let’s talk about strategies that you can use during your revision process. For many writers, revision is much harder than editing. Once you know what to look for, you can root through your manuscript and identity exactly what to cut or change. Nowadays, you can even use technology tools to do most of that work for you. I think that’s why many writers jump straight to this step. It may still be a lot of work, but it feels straightforward when compared to rethinking your entire plot.
Revision is hard because we’re working at the macro level focusing on plot lines, characters, conflicts that carry through the story as a whole. These elements are intertwined. Once you change one element, the others will need to be addressed as well. Before you even start implementing revisions, you need to know what to change, which means figuring out exactly what is working and what needs work in your story—not an easy task when you’ve been lost in the weeds of drafting.
That’s where this blog post comes in. I’m giving you a four-part framework you can use to analyze your novel at the story level. This blog post covers each part at a basic level, then, in my next four posts, I’ll cover each part in greater depth.
The Four C’s Framework
First, what are the Four C’s? They’re four critical elements of your story that need to be addressed in revision so that you can get your novel right. These four elements help you hook readers on page one and keep them flipping pages until they reach the end.
They are:
Conflict
Character
Cause/Effect
Change
These elements work together and separately to create an immersive and enjoyable experience for your readers, but don’t take my word for it. According to a Goodreads survey, almost 50% of readers abandon a book because it was slow or boring, beating any other cause. Books can feel slow or boring for many reasons, but the most likely cause is an issue with one (or more) of the four C’s.
Maybe the beginning lacks conflict. Maybe the characters aren’t relatable, making anything they do boring to the reader because they just don’t care about them. Maybe there is a weak cause/effect chain making the plot feel random rather than purposeful (trust, even a car chase can feel boring if the author hasn’t given us a reason to care about it). Maybe the story feels static, nothing is changing, nothing is at risk and therefore it feels like the story is stuck in place, going nowhere.
Now, let’s look at each of the four C’s individually.
#1 - Conflict
Conflict comes first because it is absolutely essential to creating a story that works. In real life, we seek to avoid problems and confrontations. In fiction, we eat it up and ask for more. At a fundamental level, conflict makes a story engaging. Tolstoy had it right—happiness is boring.
To hook readers, things have to go wrong on page one and keep going wrong until the end. That doesn’t mean your main story conflict needs to start on page one. In fact, most structure systems recommend kicking off the inciting incident at the 10%-25% mark of the story. But that doesn’t mean things should be going perfectly for your main character when we first meet them.
Start the story with a smaller problem. The main character’s car won’t start, or they’re running late for work when they know that they’re already on thin ice with the boss. Show us a day full of petty frustrations or ongoing issues. Let us get to know the character a little bit, help readers feel sympathy for them. Then, you can kick off the conflict for the rest of the story.
#2 - Character
Without characters we have no story. If you think you can sail past this part of the framework because you already have characters on the page, think again. It’s not enough to create characters in the planning and drafting stages. In revision, you have to make sure that your characters are coming across on the page in a way that is accessible to readers.
Characterization is tricky because you know your characters inside-out. In fact, they likely contain bits and pieces of your personality, or experiences, or beliefs. Because you’re so close to them, it’s easy for you to make assumptions about how they’re coming across on the page. You might assume that their motives are clear because their actions are 100% logical to you. You might assume that the reader will interpret an action as kind because that’s how you would interpret it yourself. (You can read more about the problem with assumptions in this blog post).
The problem: you are not your reader.
Your assumptions are not guaranteed to be their assumptions. Your interpretations are not guaranteed to be their interpretations. When you draft, it’s okay to let those assumptions stand. In revision, however, you need to go back and make sure that you have put the evidence on the page for your readers. Make sure you’ve put key traits on the page for readers to see. Make sure their motives are made clear.
That doesn’t mean just explaining things to your reader. It means creating scenes and situations that allow readers to see traits in action. It means sharing your readers’ thoughts and feelings via internal processing as events unfold in the story. It means taking a step back and imagining what someone without your background knowledge about a character will see on the page, because if it’s not on the page for readers, it doesn’t exist.
#3 - Cause & Effect
It’s not enough for your story to have exciting plot developments. Those plot developments also need to be connected by cause and effect.
What does that mean? It means making sure that each plot development is caused by something that happens earlier in the story. Creating specific connections between plot events helps make your plot feel purposeful instead of random. Rather than moving readers in a bunch of different directions, creating causal links between plot events makes it feel as though your novel is moving toward a purposeful conclusion.
I also recommend making your characters responsible for those plot developments as often as possible. Why? It makes for a more engaging story. Readers don’t want to follow a passive character (though there will be times when things happen to them). Show your character taking action, even if those actions backfire on them big time. In fact, having your character try something and fail at it will only make them more interesting to readers. It doesn’t always have to be your main character taking action, either. You can let the villain step in to cause problems or a side character—just make sure the people you’ve spent so long developing for your story are getting to drive the action.
Can you still have random problems—think natural disasters, car accidents—crop up out of nowhere? Of course! But consider compounding them with human error or have your character take action in response to these random events. Your story will be better for it.
#4 - Change
Last, but certainly not least, something needs to change in your novel. Whether that’s your characters, their world, or both.
For most novels, your main character will be the one changing—a.k.a. the character arc. Your character will start the novel with certain beliefs about the world. The conflicts of your novel will test and challenge that belief until, finally, your character has changed for the better (in a positive change arc) or the worse (in a negative change arc). This is a woefully short introduction to character arcs, so if you’re interested in exploring this topic further, I highly recommend K.M. Weiland’s book Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author’s Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development for a deep dive on this topic.
Some novels have main characters who don’t change. Instead, they change the world around them. Think Jack Reacher (at least in the Amazon Prime series). Jack Reacher is pretty much the same from beginning to end. But by the time he leaves Margrave, Georgia has changed and we’re pretty sure that it will never be the same again. The same goes for the secondary characters who have been touched by his presence in some way.
Not sure what to change in your story? Look to your genre insight. In epic fantasy, the entire world should be affected by the plot (at least by the end of the series). In romance, both main characters need to change as they slowly overcome their objections to the romantic relationship. Flat characters who change the world are more common in the thriller and mystery genre.
How do you know what readers of your genre expect? Read widely in your genre and take note of what’s resonating with readers (or not).
There you have it, the four C’s of plotting and revising your novel. Over the next four blog posts, I’ll go even deeper into each part of the framework so that you know exactly what to look for as you revise your novel.
Happy Writing!
FYI: This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something we may earn a commission. For more information click here and thanks, as always, for your support!
