Subplots

The following short essay is taken from Chapter Six in Build a Better Story.Unless a story is very short, a single plot will have difficulty holding a reader's attention.  If the story drives from the beginning to the end in a straight line, it lacks complexity.  If the story line zigs and dips and otherwise detours from its goal as secondary issues are explored, it increases the reader's interest.  That is the purpose of subplots: to defer the ending of the story and increase the reader's...