Mechanics of Subplots

By Chris Jorgensen

We talked about plotting recently and got to go over some of the simple steps to help you as a writer. Now, I want to go over another big aspect of story plots. So today we get to discuss:

Mechanics of Subplots

Subplotting is tricky, I know, I’ve been there before. The real trouble comes from knowing when and how to use these side stories in a way that enhances your main plotline. Many times when we see these examples, they fall into two paths. Either they play an integral role in the main story, or they are a separate story altogether. But no matter what happens, we have to take into account how these promises coexist and interact with each other.

Occasionally, stories will take an exceptionally long time connecting two plots, sometimes it takes books worth of time to get these paths to cross, but they do cross. For instance, if we establish the main plot in a book, and introduce a subplot alongside it and they never interact until book three, then how do we make sure that we are not losing our reader along the way? We establish early that these two plots are still somehow connected, even if we don’t ever cross them, we are told, or it is implied that these plots are working in concert with one another and will culminate eventually.

There are examples of this where it was used and did not achieve the desired effect. Take, for instance, The Last Jedi. The trouble with the movie is that it introduces us to two plots. The first being of the character Rey, who is going to go learn. The second, we see Finn, who is on a mission to help his friend Rey. We are given these promises, and thus we have our movie. The problem is that the subplot of Finn never actually achieves its promise. Instead, it goes on this side quest that ends up not contributing to the main plot in any way. It makes this subplot come across to the audience in the same way a random side quest in a video game does. Sometimes it can help to influence the main plotline, but when it has very little to do with the main story, it feels like a step away from our overall goal.

The same can happen in a book where we are told about events to come, only to have them not occur. It makes the story feel hollow and a waste of time. 

Luckily, not all literature is like that. One of the clearest examples I have is of Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson. The two main plots we are given is that there is a conflict at location B, our characters are at location A, and have to get to this other location to have the big climactic moment. At some point, some of the characters go from point A to point C instead, and we have the subplot of what will happen now. Eventually, this subplot comes to a close when it connects back into the main plot, and our characters finally make it to point B. We are given the promise early on that we will end up at this point, and even when we are unsure about the outcome, we eventually connect back in the end and are delivered the promise.

Subplots are tricky things, and we have to ensure that we are able to manage them effectively to ensure that we maintain the interest of our readers. We start to see the same sort of needs in every story come together in unique ways to deliver on what we are trying to give our readers. 

Chris Jorgensen is a writer of the Editing Mee team. Chris is often described as an amalgamation of too many things for his own good. Writer, musician, academic, book collector, scavenger, and soon one of the authors of our Collective Darkness Anthology.

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