Complicated Webs

Big, fat, complex, multiple-viewpoint novels have been popular for quite a while, and they have a whole set of problems all their own. Once of those problems is pacing.

The temptation is always to take advantage of a slow moment in the main plot to advance a subplot, and it's frequently a good idea in many respects, but it can lead to a too-even pace as the intense high points of one subplot cancel out the lows of another. So what does one do?

Well, the first thing is to look for places where y...