Forum Subplots

I have a 50,000 word rough draft of a novel written and absolutely no subplot. Is a subplot essential and what kinds of hints or tips do you use for incorporating them. Are there important things to remember with subplots? Do you have difficulty with subplots too?

When I first started writing my novel I didn't really explore my subplots very fully. I'd mention off hand things that were happening or throw in a little nuance of a person that had a whole nother story, but then explain very little. After a bit I started diverging on the subplots more, but I found I had too many of them that spun out too long and distracted from the main story. What I've settled upon now is cutting out the subplots that don't really go anywhere or add anything to the main story or main character(s). This gives me a lot more space to develop those which do help the story and it actually becomes fun interweaving them with the main story.

As for needing them . . . you definitley don't need subplots but I think they can be very valuable in shaping characters or adding drama and meaning to the main story. You probably have a half dozen sub plots just waiting to be explored, minor characters who are in relationships or out of relationships, past events that brought about the story, past histories that effected the characters, unspoken emotions. One way to find these is to have another person read your story and ask them if there was anything they wanted to know more about, any character or any relationship or anything like that then it's just a matter of creating a side story (which, preferably, intertwines with the main story).

Of course you can't always find a good reader who will do this for you (especially on a novel) so, if that's the case, I'd recommend looking at the characters and events closest to the main character/main story and see what it is that directly contributes to these and usually you can find a sub plot there.

In conclusion (i know i've sprawled and wandered a lot, sorry), subplots are only really necessary if they contribute to the main story so just look for those.
-cheers

I think subplots are essential to almost any fiction work which is more than a page or two. The subplots are hard to think of, but sometimes, in the middle of the night,
an excellent little subplot will come to you which will flit in and out of the main story like a Bach counterpoint melody.
Good luck
Poewannabe

Subplots happen. Chances are you have them already. If you can't find them, that's becuase they're unresolved.

I'm working on subplot right now actually, which is romance between a pair of antagonists. I agree that they should serve the main story, or intervene with it. My subplots usually mix with the main story at the end, which is the easiest thing to do.

The best I've seen subplots do are two things:
They intersect with the main story before the end (usually in the middle) and come back again at the end. There's an odd infinity shape pattern which emerges from that structure which I like.

The other thing is when the subplot becomes the main plot. This shift also happens near the end of the story. I really don't see much fiction doing this, but TV shows do this all the time toward the end of the season. Usually the subplots on TV shows deal with a romance or the villain, so by the season finale a dramatic shift involving that subplot becomes the focus.

Can you have a story without a subplot? I know someone told me "No", because then your story is A to B, which is flat and boring. I disagree. If it's an Elmore Leonard thriller or something and it's just the main story driving forward the whole time, I think it could work out wonderfully.

I've had a problem with subplots. Sometimes I get stuck on the subplot and it ends up taking over my original story. I'll have enough material for a sequel/follow-up novel, but I'm so way off where I was going with my story. I don't want to overkill the story and bore the reader if they're not interested in their background or outside conflict, but I want to give some information & interaction with them because they are essential to the story.

Anybody who has read (or tried to read) Anne Rice's The Witching Hour might agree that there were too many subplots in that book. There were too many characters & relationships & conflicts to keep track of that had nothing to do with the main story. To me it became a bible rehash (so-and-so begot so-and-so). I don't want to do that. I liked the main story and wasn't very interested in the family history. To me it was mostly irrelevant; so I ended up skimming through it--which I dont want any reader to do with my own work.

My own advice would be that if some characters aren't essential enough to the story to create a subplot, don't write one. If you feel you must disclose some information about a character, then keep it short and somewhat relevent to the main story. You can sketch out a background on all the characters and their relationships and maybe that will help you decide whether or not you need a subplot....or save it for the sequel.