A throughline is a story’s core, the problem that’s introduced at the beginning and resolved at the end. Sometimes throughlines are called “central plot threads” or a story’s “main arc.” But whatever we call it, it is the single most important element of a story. When you tell someone what a story is “about,” you’re usually describing the throughline. In Star Wars: A New Hope, the threat of the Deathstar is the throughline. It is present from the moment Leia tries to escape Vader with the plans and finally concluded when Luke makes his one-in-a-million shot. When the throughline is weak, readers have less reason to turn the page. The story loses urgency or falls apart into unrelated chapters. Of all the manuscripts I edit, this problem is probably the most common. It’s easy for new authors to lose track of what ties their stories together during the fun of worldbuilding and creating character arcs.
