how many subplots in a novel

If there are too many subplots, there are extra threads left hanging at the end of the book, and if there are too few, then there could be holes in the story. Simply put, a plot is just a sequence of events that push the narrative to its end. A great subplot will not save your lagging story. But sometimes a story ends up seeming too linear, so you wonder how many subplots in a novel is a good number. Consider the gap you need to close. Click here to buy Grief: The Inside Story. There are no rules, save for don’t write boring. If you’re writing a novel or planning on writing one, you maybe have considered adding in a subplot or three. You may know there’s an issue, but not what to do about it. If the plot is the spine, and you have a lot of subplots running, then you need to make sure you have a strong enough spine to take all this added weight. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. It can be frustrating to try and give advice on using subplots, because subplots can be any number of things: These examples for writing subplots and subplot ideas start close to your character (another storyline for her) and zoom all the way out to a concern in the larger environment. Keep track of stuff . How the tricks of the trade work can come later. and How many subplots in a novel areacceptable?) And now, you can buy my very own Manuscript Submission Blueprint, with over ten hours of instruction, 35+ handouts, sample query letters, and interviews about all facets of the submission process to agents and publishers for all writers, for writers in all categories. Three meetings with that group were enough for me. I’m not sure why anyone would ask that question. A subplot may add between 5,000 to 10,000 words. . himself. The spine. Considering the ephemeral nature of Facebook, in a couple of days his comment would have disappeared into the great maw of FB, and I didn’t want it to be lost forever. Shorts, for example, are a form that generally works better when they are a drag race from point A to B, and which end in a singular climax — but I’ve read exceptions. Creating Compelling Consequences for Characters, Middle Grade vs Chapter Book | One Writer's Journey, Subplots: Natural Complicators | katiemerkelwriter, WRITING IRRESISTIBLE KIDLIT: The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Readers, Writing Blueprints online courses, created by Children’s Book Insider, free trial versions of all the Manuscript Blueprints here, please feel free to book a paid consultation using my calendar, A secondary story for your protagonist (she is a budding actress but is also dealing with her actress inspiration’s recent death, or her grandmother’s illness), The story of a secondary character (her best friend is really struggling at school and wants to drop out), The story of an antagonist (the rival drama girl at school is causing trouble for your main character), Something going on in the world of the novel (the theatre department is set to be closed due to budget cuts, and the beloved drama teacher will be out of a job). There are courses for picture book, chapter book, MG and YA, self-publishing, marketing, and more. A subplot may add between 5,000 to 10,000 words. The subplot is connected to the main story but never overpowers it. So far I’ve had no problem with this. Read through your manuscript and pick 4-5 places where even you’re bored of reading it. Sometimes one additional subplot is all you need to spice your dish. Rob said: A broad question begging for a broad answer, of which there is only one that’s truly honest, even if horribly vague: As many as the author can competently handle. Rob is a smart guy and knows what he is doing. About halfway through the book, I got entangled in all those threads, and the only way to find the way to … It’s about a girl, who has a fraught personal conflict, who starts to see herself as part of a more complicated web. Subplots are everywhere. If someone says that your novel needs more meat or substance or something else happening, you can be pretty sure that your plot is too linear. You can and absolutely should plant the seeds of subplot in the beginning, and resolve the additional plots by the end. The only question remaining is why and in this why you have your subplots that push the book forward. Is there a plot thread that you could create and weave through all of your “problem spots”? Author, know thyself, and then stretch 10%, putting down a tale as best you can, whether outlined or not, large-staged or mini, small cast or jam-packed. There is no limit on how many subplots there can be, but there are limitations to how well authors can maintain … He’s never been satisfied with Earth. It’s about fighting for who and what she loves. As a result, I use the main, B, C method, with B for the plot of the next book. In fact, I’ve posted a couple of those comments here on this blog to make sure they didn’t get lost in the great maw of Facebook. Learn how your comment data is processed. You either have equally-sized main plots or you have a main plot and a subplot, depending on whether the novel is about both characters equally, or whether … There’s a section on how to showcase the themes you are using in your novel with subplots and why subplots need to be carefully thought out. And here’s why. There’s no hard and fast rule about the number of subplots that will work, but as you can imagine, having too many subplots can create confusion for your reader and headaches for you. . But each one will add flavor. You can use a character’s emotional, spiritual or intellectual learning curves in this type of … Subplots, mini plots, lines of suspense, how many characters there should be and the proper ratio of bad to good. Pat Bertram is the author  of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One and Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.” Bertram is also the author of the suspense novels Unfinished, Madame ZeeZee’s Nightmare, Light Bringer, Daughter Am I, More Deaths Than One, and A Spark of Heavenly Fire. I concede the number could be argued, but c’mon, fellow writers, there is more than one, and there is more than two. I advocate for subplot because it’s wonderful for one crucial thing: to raise stakes and tension. In the first-person narrative of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, the narrator, Scout … Some types of subplots include a romantic subplot, political, macabre, artful/environmental subplots, historical subplots, thought path subplots, and character subplots. They are those side stories that give a novel’s plot depth. Writing subplots in a novel doesn’t always come intuitively. It’s written by Mary Kole, a veteran literary agent, editor, and publishing industry insider who knows how the system works. […]. But don’t be afraid of two, or forty-two. How many subplots? or it can be an equally wonderful, but streamlined story. Writers often have no problem thinking of their primarily plot, or at least the beginning and end of their story (the Muddy Middle trips people up quite a bit, of course). Subplots are everywhere. In my current novel, a contemporary romance, my heroine’s sworn off men, because of … But it’s also a bit simple — isn’t it? Grief: The Great Yearning is not a how-to but a how-done, a compilation of letters, blog posts, and journal entries Pat Bertram wrote while struggling to survive her first year of grief. The Mentalist on television does this kind of tease real well. For most of us, subplots serve to make life difficult for our characters. Okay, asking it might lead to a good discussion. However, longer novels are more interesting if they have more than one strand and the longer the book… Of all these three subplots, this is the one least connected to the main plot in the first book. By the end, it’s announced that the theatre program is saved. One thing a movie has to do is get back to the main plot to reinforce it or it will bend, buckle and snap. In the hands of a master, there can be many subplots, even into the double and triple digits, as can be read in the incredible work Shogun by James Clavell, or The Hobbit by Tolkien. What is the easiest part of the writing process? James Clavell’s 1975 blockbuster Shōgun is a doorstop of a … How to Write and Publish Children's Books. She must save her best friend from making a bad decision (if dropping out happens to be a bad decision in this story), she must battle off the rival girl, and she also feels tremendous responsibility, maybe, for the success of the theatre program. So get those worked out in place, then allow yourself the freedom to play with the next ten. Subplots are like a seasoning. You can work your way through them at your leisure, and watch as many times as you’d like, with no expiration date. Also how and why he was manipulated. Sometimes, though, one or two or all of the ones mentioned above are necessary. From a purely technical standpoint, I'd stick with no more than one major subplot and maybe one minor subplot at the 90K word length and no more than one subplot if you're closer to 70K. If your reader has too many complexities to juggle, it may be a turn-off unless you have great skill to pull it off. Pat starts writing, and then . Click to purchase, and be sure to add it to your shelf and write a review on Goodreads! It’s pretty difficult to judge your own work for “thinness”. As part of the galactic renewal program, God has accepted an offer from a development company on the planet Xerxes to turn Earth into a theme park. Believe it or not, 70K words aren't a lot when you need to tell a story, so you're going to need the bulk of those 70-90K words to tell your main plot. Born and raised in the “micro-hood” of Portland, Oregon, he grew up as the oldest of three children, the son of a book-lover and a book-hater. Use Subplots to Fill In Your Story. That’s the plot. Current events take over and yet, something is missing. THANKS A MILLION! These things can all be made as complicated as desired, or as complicated as hell even when not desired. If your story goes too neatly from A to Z, has too few characters, or focuses almost entirely on one story, and you’re not writing an early reader or chapter book (where straightforward stories tend to thrive for very new readers), you may want to look at adding a subplot. In my Suspense/Thriller Writers’ group on Facebook, one author asked, “How many subplots in a book are acceptable?”. Access tips, workshops, handouts, resources and videos for writers of all levels—all for less than your Netflix subscription. Wiki Answers says that “subplot is like the secondary plot of your story. I told the guy he had something that basically would no longer work because he had well and truly taken too much on board. There are conventions, tropes, schemes and paradigms, some of more value than others. I still love the Stainless Steel Rat series of novels by Harry Harrison because they are fun and, just when you think as a reader you know how everything is going to go in the story, a lion instead of a rabbit is pulled out of the hat like in one of those Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons. (Is Talent More Important Than Passion andPersistence? Bob Stark returns to Denver after 18 years in SE Asia to discover that the mother he buried before he left is dead again. Meeting the Challenges of the Third Year of Grief, A Kind of Screwtape Letter | Bertram's Blog, Talking About How Clothes Make the Character, Getting Freshly Pressed. When twenty-five-year-old Mary Stuart learns she inherited a farm from her recently murdered grandparents -- grandparents her father claimed had died before she was born -- she becomes obsessed with finding out who they were and why someone wanted them dead. a multiple viewpoint novel) and you have two plots. While sorting through her deceased husband’s effects, Amanda is shocked to discover a gun and the photo of an unknown girl who resembles their daughter. My response to the question would have been: as many as the story needs. Secondary characters and antagonists add a lot of texture to a work of fiction. And since most fiction starts with characters, so will your subplots. . Notify me of follow-up comments by email. This isn’t possible to answer definitively without reading the book. This is an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths. ‘As many as the author can competently handle’ is vague but it does make sense. Another thing to consider is the number of characters in a novel. Short novel? I like being bedazzled by slight of hand and have such workings maybe revealed later on after we have established the fact that the main character can seemingly perform miracles like a real saint. A subplot might just be the thing to address your problem. Each novel will have its own issues, but in general 2-3 subplots is plenty, especially for a new writer. But to have a masterful work, there doesn’t have to be many in order to keep the reader hooked and hungry for — One…More…Chapter! But really, do we think there’s a rule about that? How many subplots??? The In-and-Out. Definition of Plots And Subplots. Most of the writers thought that one or two subplots was enough, but horror writer Rob M. Miller gave a wonderful response that I’m reposting here. About halfway through the book, I got entangled in all those threads, and the only way to find the way to plait them altogether was to do a story board. For example - Crash, Love Actually, New Year’s Eve, Traffic, etc. I can’t give you a recipe for how many to use, or what kind. There is a murder in the office. But the place where subplot thrives is the middle. With a love for reading and writing that started in his youth, Rob has traveled far to get to the place where he can now concentrate on breaking into the horror market. . Change ). ( Log Out /  If you’re wondering how many subplots in a novel, you need to look at how short your project is. There are many types of subplots used in novels. A subplot may involve the main character or minor characters, but they enrich the story if done well. What’s more, he needed them to be three pretty good movies or a mini-series rather than this monstrous thing he now had that couldn’t stand because of all that it carried. We may instinctively know how they work in story structure. (In writing jargon, they have a basic linear plot.) Dedicated readers know that I don’t advertise on this blog. Every novel has at least one plot. It sounds like it shouldn’t work, but I wouldn’t rule anything out. At least four of them are absolutely essential for the development of my story. Not even God can stop progress, but to tell the truth, He’s glad of the change. If you want “one” of something, go for it. If you’re curious, you can find free trial versions of all the Manuscript Blueprints here. Growth. Just a note: I will only answer general questions about the craft of writing, agents, editors or publishing. The Saint 1997 film starring Val Kilmer to me was awful because too much was revealed too quickly and in a very clumsy fashion. Subplots often involve supporting characters, those besides the protagonist or antagonist.Subplots may also intertwine with the main plot at some point in a story. Reach out here: mary@kidlit.com. […] Rob is knowledgeable, witty, and generous to other writers. I come from the movie generation and oft times think in terms of film even when I’m working out subplots for some novel. In simple terms, a plot is a sequence of connected events that are bound together by cause and effort. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! He’s decided to eliminate anyone who isn’t nice, and because He’s God, He knows who you are; you can’t talk your way out of it as you humans normally do.”. Establishing the character, starting off strongly (in action) with their primary conflict, layering in some tasteful backstory along the way, then, on the back end, wrapping up the story in a way that’s thematically rich and brings the initial problem full circle. the murders begin. It can’t just float in the middle of your novel disconnected. How many strands does a book need? Or you can reverse engineer it. Turn this one simple plot into a much lengthier one, and you will have something recognizable as a novel on your hands. Consider the gap you need to close. As a reader I think that the number of sub plots is not material, there may be one, a few or many, on condition only that the writer is able to handle them in such a way that they at the end, and even during the course of the book, make a coherent whole. The same advice I … The key is to simplify the approach, at least in one’s head, like with the through line given for “Star Wars.” The final product might be beautifully written and wonderfully controlled as an epic master work, such as Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series, or Tolkien’s set of Hobbit adventures, or a chunky Tom Clancy novel . That’s enough to get your protagonist in a tizzy and send her off in one direction or another. “What? When writing a novel, it’s a good rule of thumb to have a main storyline, an internal conflict for your main character (especially important if your book is in first person POV), and two to four subplots. . Thirty-seven years after being abandoned on the doorstep of a remote cabin in Colorado, Becka Johnson returns to try to discover her identity, but she only finds more questions. The film was based on the adventures of two truck drivers on rthe road. For example, she’s driving to school and sees a sign on the school lawn about the budget cuts meeting. I sell a lot of my classes on-demand on Udemy, priced for maximum accessibility! Too Many Subplots? This is because the relationship is unbalanced. The subplot is a side story that exists within the main plot. Write the story from the viewpoints of both characters (i.e. “It is exactly what folk need to read who are grieving.”(Leesa Heely Emotional/Mental Health Therapist & Educator ). Whenever I was creating character bios, I used your article on … Who has been looking for her all those years? This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Check out my freelance editorial website for more about developmental editing services. One sweet older lady laughingly volunteers to be the victim, and the others offer suggestions to jazz up the story.

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