Craft Chat Good reasons to add a subplot?

[RedSquiggle]

What are good reasons to add a subplot? I have three reasons I can think of to insert a subplot and smooth it into the main story at or near the climax (that transition is still fuzzy, but I'll get there).

This is in the context of a duology, where the story has a natural break but is effectively a larger narrative in two halves. The new subplot would be in book two. (Spare me the broader criticism of duology structure in general and how hard it is to market. We're here. It's happening.)

So, are they good reasons? Be brutally honest:

1. To set up for a third potential book (though an unresolved plot point might not be desirable for marketing the duology).
2. To bring back in characters from the first book that fell out in the initial write and re-write of book two (out of fatigue, I think. I just couldn't figure out what their place was at the time, but now I can. Their inclusion would also add symmetry, as they are the younger set of characters).
3. To slowly tease out information that in the first version came all at once, in one scene.
(okay, there's four...)
4. To introduce an antagonist involved in the climax so his arrival feels less startling (even though his forthcoming arrival was mentioned briefly in book one).

Also, should the subplot fail in one or two of these points, which of these do you think are necessary to justify it?

 

[Hannah F]

Everything in your story should progress the protagonist's (and antagonist's) journey.
1. If this is a duology, you risk killing reader satisfaction of your subplot isn't also resolved.
2. A subplot most often progresses (or hinders) the protagonist's internal journey. So, the characters who fell out of the books - will they progress or hinder?
3. This sounds like an editing job not a subplot job.
4. The antagonist should be very much part of the whole story and their effects seen early on even if the character is only seen/revealed later in the book.

 

[RedSquiggle]

Everything in your story should progress the protagonist's (and antagonist's) journey.
1. If this is a duology, you risk killing reader satisfaction of your subplot isn't also resolved.
2. A subplot most often progresses (or hinders) the protagonist's internal journey. So, the characters who fell out of the books - will they progress or hinder?
3. This sounds like an editing job not a subplot job.
4. The antagonist should be very much part of the whole story and their effects seen early on even if the character is only seen/revealed later in the book.

I should clarify: it's not THE antagonist. It's the antagonist of the antagonist.

This is a story told from multiple perspectives. The perspective of the character in this subplot would become the protagonist in a third book.

Whether or not something is "often" done does not mean much to me, but I will think on your points.

 

[RK Wallis]

The way I look at subplots is best explained by looking at theme. Rather than me say, "this is how you do it," this tactic might throw up ideas that let you solve the problem how works for your novel.

This vlog could give you ideas how to incorporate your subplot. Especially from 6:50 :



Think Pride and Prejudice:

1. Lizzy and Darcy are the main plot
2. Jane and Bingley are a main subplot
3. Kitty and Wickham are a main subplot
4. Charlotte and Mr Collins are a subplot

Almost, if not every relationship, in P&P ON SOME LEVEL deals with the problem of:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice (p. 3). Kindle Edition.

And their problems intertwine with each other.

So what is your problem the characters are dealing with? Can you use that to tie the subplot into the main plot?

This is what works for me atm. it might not work for you. Us it if it resonates, if not, best to ignore it

Good luck!

 

[RedSquiggle]

The way I look at subplots is best explained by looking at theme. Rather than me say, "this is how you do it," this tactic might throw up ideas that let you solve the problem how works for your novel.

This vlog could give you ideas how to incorporate your subplot. Especially from 6:50 :



Think Pride and Prejudice:

1. Lizzy and Darcy are the main plot
2. Jane and Bingley are a main subplot
3. Kitty and Wickham are a main subplot
4. Charlotte and Mr Collins are a subplot

Almost, if not every relationship, in P&P ON SOME LEVEL deals with the problem of:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice (p. 3). Kindle Edition.

And their problems intertwine with each other.

So what is your problem the characters are dealing with? Can you use that to tie the subplot into the main plot?

This is what works for me atm. it might not work for you. Us it if it resonates, if not, best to ignore it

Good luck!

That's a great way to look at it, and will keep it in mind foe the future. I do think at the end of the day it's probably an editing job and not a writing job. It's tough when you're constantly seeing creative options to slow down and consider whether you're about to pick up the right or wrong tool.