Welcome writers! Another Monday is upon us, and so it is time once more discuss writing in all its various forms and shapes. Or rather, a specific form and shape, as we don’t have time to discuss everything in a single installment of Being a Better Writer.
So today, I want to discuss a topic we’ve not touched on in some time: That of the subplot. Again, we have discussed this before, and many times. But that prevalence for a period is likely why as a subject it hasn’t been discussed in several years. When the time came for Topic List #23 to be assembled, this was one I personally chose as I wished to revisit the topic.
Granted, I realize that it doesn’t fit much with the local US holiday of Halloween, which arrives tomorrow, but … I honestly wasn’t thinking about holiday theming when I put the list together. And besides, it is an important topic to discuss, one that’s actually been in National News over these last few days … If you know what to look for.
With that cryptic hint, hit the jump and lets dive in. Let’s talk about building the right subplot for your story.
Okay, I’ll start by answering the question I’m sure most of you are asking: How on Earth have subplots been in the national news? And no, I wasn’t referring to political plots, AKA conspiracy. No, I was speaking in the strictest sense of storytelling.
You may have seen it this last week, but a survey broke saying that the generations younger than millennials (Gen Z and younger, in other words) were, as many reported it, more “puritan and prudish” than those generations before them when it came to their entertainment. In other words, survey respondents under the age of 30 had reported being annoyed with scenes of sex and nudity in their entertainment, calling for less of it.
“Puritan and prudish?” Sure, it’s an eye-catching byline. But it didn’t seem to be a full story on its own … until you considered the sort of material that the survey was inquiring after and then looked at the comments on these stories submitted by those in that same age group clarifying their positions.
See, it wasn’t that they were more “prudish” on sex or nudity in their entertainment, but as many of them expressed it was simply that the material was something shoved in only to titillate, not to serve the story or characters in any meaningful way.
In other words, what the comments made clear was that many of those surveyed were simply tired of what we have referred to before on Being a Better Writer as “The Romantic Plot Tumor.” That too many shows, books, and other forms of entertainment have stooped to mistakenly thinking that any story can be served by such a subplot, as well as making the error that “sex” is what makes a story “for adults” (and we’ve also discussed that before too).
At the end of the day though, the survey’s real discovery seems to be that people under thirty are just tired of cheap, sexploitive, subplots. Subplots that do not match or even have anything to do with the rest of the story on offer, but merely serve as “romantic filler” and cheap, sexualized thrills.
So as I said, subplots made the national news. Via the majority of an entire generation begging for stories to do better.
Okay then, so how can we do that. Well, hold that thought for a moment. First let’s make sure we’re all on the same page with what a subplot is. Just to cover our bases.
It’s fairly straightforward: A subplot is a secondary plot that runs concurrent to your main plot. A story may have only a single subplot, or it may have several plots that resolve and then are replaced by new subplots over the course of the main plot. For example, a story’s primary plot might be about a princess attempting to track down an ancient source of magic to do battle against a great evil, while a subplot may be her friend back in the kingdom attempting to dig into the kingdom’s history to discover more about the great evil. Or the subplot could be something less tied to the main story, like the princess’s efforts to win over a mount that isn’t at all interested in her riding it. Or it could be even further removed, detailing the princess’s brother’s managing of the kingdom in her absence and facing trials of his own unrelated to the main plot.
All of these are valid choices for a subplot—and in fact the story could even use all of them at the same time. Each would have its own arc, and could resolve completely independently of the main plot.
Okay, so why would one include a subplot in their story. I will stress that it’s not a requirement for a good plot to be a appreciated, and yet … we still include them. So why?
Well, there a few reasons. The first is that it can give our readers a breather from the primary plot. Yes, as some of you have already reasoned, a subplot is really useful for managing that old adversary of all storytellers, proper pacing. Cleverly used, a subplot that even has little to no connection to the main plot can be made to selectively emphasize or downplay its beats. A good example here is to think of a lot of serialized television shows. Many will often have what is called a “B plot,” which is really just a subplot to the main plot a lot of the time that gives the primary plot something to cut away from or to in order to selectively manage tension, allow a cutaway gag to land properly, or make for a similar management of the story beats.
But a subplot can serve other purposes too. Often a good subplot will coyly expand the setting the primary plot takes place in, offering readers a glimpse at other elements or areas they may otherwise not have seen. Indeed, this can be cleverly done at times in order to set up exposition for the core plot via creative means, so that when the primary plot arrives at a location, readers are more familiar with the implications it brings. Or they can expand on character’s motivations, or even show a different side to what a protagonist sees that bring light to elements unable to be explored by the primary plot’s journey.
But … just as they can do all these things, they can also be used for cheap padding. Filler, to lengthen out a plot that otherwise wouldn’t be quite nearly so long, or too easy to spot the holes in.
And just like that, we’re back at the “convenient romantic subplot,” AKA the romantic plot tumor, a cheap tactic employed by many stories to achieve some of the benefits of a subplot, but without spending the effort to craft on that really fits the story. Or rather, as some may see it (like executives), to insert the obvious subplot that fits “every” other story: Romance. But even that requires a little effort to pull off, and so it’s easier just to show a little skin and get a little “action” going … and boom, we’ve come full circle to the start of our post.
Okay, so then if that’s what a subplot is used for, as well as how they’ve been used in poor taste, how can we, as the title of today’s post declares, build the right one for our story?
Well … there’s no right answer I can offer here. No single one, anyway. Because every story will be different. Every story, therefore, will need to have it’s own subplot—or need of one—determined individually. And only you can be the one to decide that for a story that has yet to be written.
But that doesn’t mean we’re hopeless. If we look at the aims of a subplot we discussed above, consider what a subplot is supposed to do for our story, then it becomes easier for use to decide how to properly apply—or build—one that will compliment our primary plot.
The first thing we should ask, therefore, is what our subplot—or subplots—will add to our primary plot. Will they be allowing the readers greater understanding of the setting? Or will they conclude with resolutions that will buoy the primary plot?
Another way to look at this, a way we’ve spoken of before on BaBW, is to ask yourself how the subplot will weave into the tapestry of your story. If our story is a giant mural, formed of dozens of plot threads coming together to form a narrative whole, a picture if you will, then how will the subplot weave smoothly into that tapestry to contribute to the greater whole?
For example, there are books I’ve read, Epics, in which there are numerous subplots, more than a dozen over the course of the book. Some of these are resolved in the first third, others in the last quarter. But each expands on something in the world or the setting before wrapping back around to tie into the core plot. Sometimes loosely, just resolving something a character said while giving said character far more personality for the reader to enjoy, and other times directly funneling into the primary plot itself as the subplot resolves with a major clue or advance for that plot.
So, if you desire to build a subplot for your story, asking yourself how it weaves into that primary plot may be the exact question you need to ask.
And I stress that ideally you should want a subplot to connect to the primary plot. It should feed into it. Sadly, we live in an era where many subplots, being filler, only connect in the loosest sense if at all, and unfortunately many have been exposed to such and perhaps even think that this is acceptable storytelling, not realizing that such exists only to cheaply pad out length or even allow television formats to be even more interchangeable than they are (such as one show that at one point kept such rigorous timing that the A and B plots of each episode could be shuffled like dominoes in any order or number of shows the creators wished, slotted in like Legos).
With that stress in mind then, past asking just what the subplot will contribute, be it pacing or other uses, also seek a way to fold it into the primary story. This is, for example, why subplots about conflicts between friends are popular: It is difficult (maybe even impossible) to resolve the primary plot while the characters are at odds with one another, allowing the subplot’s resolution to dovetail nicely into the primary plot. But how will your subplot be a part of that greater tapestry? Will it bring new elements to it? Expand on a character, or a small part of the larger story? Solve a mystery the protagonist will need solved in order to accomplish their primary aim?
All of these are valid. Sort of like any plot can be valid. Again, without getting into specifics, we can’t just say “shove a subplot in there, that’ll work” or declare what that subplot will be. That choice has to come from you, the creator.
But I hope, as we wrap things up, that you realize that contrary to what C-Suite executives think, there are improper ways to use subplots. Places where they don’t belong, or contribute. So before you shove one into your story, ask yourself what it’s going to contribute. What will it bring to the plot you’ve prepared?
Once you’ve answered that, you can dig deeper, asking yourself how you can weave it into that primary plot, or if it’s better served kept separate. Remember, you can have many subplots. I’ve read great books with more than a dozen, which means you can certainly go that route if the story supports it, and I’ve read books that don’t have any … but also didn’t need one, being short and to the point.
In the end, only you can say what subplot you need (or don’t) to build for your plot. Whatever you do, just do it in the best way possible that serves your story.
Good luck. Now get writing.
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