Subplot Do’s And Don’ts

While some might regard subplots as a way to beef up your word count or add something extra when your chapter goals fall short, they’re more than just a means to lengthen a story.

They’re also mini-stories that run alongside the main plot to give your book interest and depth.

If you’re not using them already, or want to up your subplot game, here are some do’s and don’ts for making the most of them.

Subplot Do’s And Don’tsDo Highlight The Best Parts Of Your Story

Even though subplots aren’t part of the main story, they can help highlight it.

If you want readers to connect with your characters, a subplot that reveals more about them will do that.

For example, let’s say your story is about a hockey player making the cutoff for a team that will change his life. The main story is all about his drive and the things he’ll do to get the position he wants. This could make him appear entitled, one-track-minded, and not relatable. But a subplot that shows he’s caring for a sick family member and the reason he wants on the team so badly is to change both of their lives, softens the character and helps highlight the main story.

Use your subplots to reveal more about your characters, add layers to their arcs, raise the stakes of your main story, and even add to your twists and foreshadowing.

Don’t Stick To A Type

Another great thing about subplots is that you don’t have to stick to a type. While a subplot should be related to what’s happening in the main part of the story, it doesn’t have to follow it exactly.

Just because your MC is a detective trying to solve a grisly murder, doesn’t mean your subplots have to be all heavy or doom and gloom. While the MC is solving the case, they may strike up an unlikely friendship with a witness that brings levity, or a stakeout at a cafe could lead to a small romantic subplot with a server.

When it comes to thinking up subplots to go with your main story, brainstorm ones that will fit in with the overall theme, but also ones that can add an unexpected touch of something else.

Do Link Them To The Main Character

Even though a subplot doesn’t have to be about the MC, try to keep it linked with them in some way. After all, the MC is who the reader will spend the most time with. They have the main plot, and if a subplot is going to take the reader away from it for a chapter or three, there should be a good reason for it.

A subplot where a supporting character goes on their own mission but it’s to benefit the MC will give readers a bond with someone else, and a vested interest in seeing how this little side mission turns out. It could even allow readers to visit parts of your book world that can’t be shown in the main plot.

Such a subplot won’t feel out of place or like it’s a waste of time for readers. But a subplot that doesn’t link back to the main character risks turning a reader off. They may question why they’re now following a character who is coming off as random because what they’re doing isn’t related to the MC or their storyline, and they don’t know why they should care.

Keep your readers happy with a related link to the MC, no matter how loose, in your subplots.

Don’t Make Them The Star Of Your Story

The main plot should be the focus and star of your book, and any subplot used to provide a break from it at key moments for tension, and applied to enhance the main story at crucial times.

If you’ve found yourself at the end of a draft with a subplot that’s more interesting than the story itself, then you have some rewriting to do.

Any subplot that is too good to let go of, or if you’ve been given feedback that says the subplot needs to be the focus of the story, should be worked into your main plot. After that, ensure all other subplots shine a light on the main story, but don’t outshine it.

Do Resolve Them First

When resolving all the hanging threads of your story, keep the main reveals until the end, and resolve the majority, if not all, of the subplots first.

If the subplots feed into the main story like they should, then resolving them is like slotting the final few puzzle pieces in before finishing your jigsaw.

Some subplots, like a romance or friendship resolving or falling apart, may come after the main plot has been resolved. That’s fine. But try to resolve the subplots that you can before the main story so the focus of your readers is in the right place.

Don’t Use Too Many

Like anything, too much of a good thing is too much!

If you have so many subplots that even your writing bible, numerous outlines, and countless notes can’t keep straight what’s happening in the story, you have too many subplots.

In this case, look at each subplot and see what can be cut or combined. A subplot that doesn’t serve the overall story or MC can be cut, while similar subplots or ones that cover the same purpose can be combined to take things down to a less confusing level.

Do Treat Them Like Their Own Story

Although the role of the subplot is to enhance the main story, it should also be treated like its own story with a start, middle, and end.

Let’s say you’re writing a book where the subplot is love interest #1’s quest is to find the MC’s favorite childhood book.

It starts off with them discovering what the book is and planning to get it, and the middle is them locating it. If you ended the subplot there, readers might wonder what the point of it was. The end should be the love interest giving the MC the book, and maybe even the MC realizing their own feelings for the love interest.

The ending resolves the subplot, relates to the MC, and gives readers something to root for. Without the start (finding out about the book), middle (getting the book), and end (giving the book), it’s just a letdown.

No writer wants to let their readers down, so treat your subplots like their own story, and use the other do’s and don’ts here to ensure they’re doing more than just beefing up your word count.

— K.M Allan

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