Adding Subplots

Adding subplots to a novel is all about taking the main plot you constructed in the section on basic plotting and adding dimension and complexity to it.

The article is divided into three parts:

• First, it defines what a subplot is.
• Second, it tells you why they are important (in case you were thinking of leaving them out).
• Third, and most importantly, it shows you precisely how to handle them during the planning process. (Because, trust me, it's easy to get hopelessly lost.)

What Are Subplots?

Let's start by stating the obvious: a subplot is precisely the same thing as a novel's central plot, only it is much smaller in scale. (And when I say it is the "same thing" as a central plot, I mean that you use the 10-Step Guide to Plotting a Novel to build it.)

In some novels, telling the main plot from any subsidiary plots isn't always easy - they can seem equally important. Beware, though, of any secondary storylines overwhelming the main plot. They are there to enhance and strengthen the main story, not to compete with it. The main plot should always begin and end the novel, and any subplots should happen within these "bookends".

A subplot can be told from the viewpoint of the story's main character (the one the main plot is "about"), or it can be told from the point of view of one of the lesser characters. For example, if you are writing a crime novel...

• The main plot is about a plan to rob a casino. It is largely seen through the eyes of the novel's hero - the leader of the criminal gang.

• If the hero is also trying to keep his wife from walking out on him, the scenes in which he tries to convince her that this will be his last job before they retire to Italy together represent a secondary plot.

• If the main plot is partly seen through the eyes of the hero's accomplice, these scenes represent another secondary plot.

Incidentally, you might think that this last one is actually a part of the main plot - just seen through different eyes - but it isn't. A plot, remember, is about a character pursuing a goal, encountering conflict and reaching a resolution...

• The hero's goal in the main plot is to get his hands on the money, pure and simple.
• But the accomplice's goal is revenge - the casino manager was responsible for the death of his best friend.

The two plots might have the same event in common - the robbery - but each character is coming at it from a very different perspective.

Before moving on, let me try to illustrate everything I have said so far with an analogy...