Knitting Subplots Together

This is part of a series, 30 Days to A Stronger Novel

You have three subplots. How do you keep them straight and all relevant to the main plot? You knit (YouTube, “The Last Knit”) them together!

It’s a good idea to take time to build in connections. List the main characters, settings, emotions, and events of each plot (used here to mean plot or subplot), using a large sheet of paper and one column for each plot. Then look for ways you can connect the plots.

Each main characters is probably involved in at least two plots, maybe more. Can you reuse settings across plot lines? Can an event in the main plot have ramifications for the subplots? Are similar emotions displayed across plot lines? How can something in a subplot raise the stakes in the main plot? Build in as many connections as possible!

Then look at a list of scenes for the various plots and try to arrange them in the most dramatic way. Maybe one plot gets to a high point and you leave the reader hanging in suspense, while you cut to developments in another plot. Maybe you need a scene from this plot to raise the stakes in the that plot. Think hard about the suspense and tension created by the sequencing of scenes.

(BTW, did you like the You Tube video?  Do you watch videos like that when they are listed in a post?) 

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One thought on “0

  1. Hello, Darcy

    Greetings from Wisconsin! Just a FYI——–If I have time, I do go to the weblinks-or to You tube when you post them. I appreciate you directing us to other areas that could be beneficial.

    Enjoyed the knitting clip. Feels like our writing sometimes~hey?! It begins to take on a life of its own.

    Becki

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