beneath the surface of your story. Not beneath as in the random assortment of things that seem to collect under the bed all on their own, but beneath as in an integral story layer that, once exposed, sheds light on the surface meaning. It’s not surprising, then, that a novel’s principal subplots tend to spring from two story areas that you’ve already developed and that often overlap: • External events that were set into motion before the novel began, and that have impending consequences that will affect the protagonist’s quest • Secondary characters (basically, anyone other than the
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