Tag Archives: subplots

When Subplots Go Bad

- July 13, 2012

Your mileage is going to vary when it comes to subplots. I feel like authors who can handle large casts of characters, or who write long-running series, or both, have a greater license with subplot. They can weave them through several stories, and slide them in more carefully. For me as a writer, subplot is […]

Subplots: Dogs on a Hike

- July 13, 2012

This morning my wife and I woke up at 6AM, ate a hearty breakfast, and then took our four dogs on a three mile hike along Blue Lakes in Breckenridge, Colorado. Three miles isn’t a particularly long hike, until you add in the vertical climb (around 1500 feet), the dangerous terrain – slippery scree fields, […]

Spicing with Subplots

- July 12, 2012

Plots are quite pleasant for novel readers and even more pleasant for novelists, providing a structure for the writing and all that jazz.  But subplots are the sugar and spice.  As a writer, I don’t enjoy the main plot so much–once I’ve constructed the gist of the book, it’s difficult to change, and that element […]

Subplots Make the Skeleton Dance

- July 11, 2012

If you’re writing a short story, there’s probably no time for much of a subplot. You only have so many words to get your hero inside from the dark and stormy night, into the castle, past the creepy caretaker, rescue the damsel in distress from the horrible monster, and get them both home safely. It’s […]