Tag: subplot

Seven-Point Story Structure

I think I’ve said something similar before, but I feel like I was cheated out of a great deal of lessons when I took classes on writing in high school and college. There are so many unique and interesting ways to order a story and to think about progression that I honestly don’t understand how the basic three act structure managed to monopolize all of our lessons. Perhaps, it has something to do with the fact that our teachers had to squish stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, and more into a single semester. It is a shame how some of the most enjoyable parts of life and education are cut down to the point of being hardly covered.

The seven-point story structure is one that has caught my attention with its heavy focus on cause and effect. It is simple and helps to keep the story moving forward if applied correctly. It is also a great template to add to and subtract from to create a more flexible work. I’ll talk about each of the seven points, and illustrate this flexibility.

Hook

The hook is, as always, the initial bit that latches onto the reader and drives them to pick up your story beyond that first chapter. It should be the introduction of the main character and, in most cases, the main objective and stakes as well. These are especially important in a shorter story where you don’t have a great deal of time for expositing. Longer stories can usually get by with focusing on the main character and the setting as long as something interesting (and plot relevant) takes place.

First Plot Point

The hook captured the audience and flung the protagonist into their journey. As a result of them taking off, they are going to encounter something new and central to the objectives of the story. Whether that is a guide, a contest, a quest, a match on their dating profile, something that carries them to the goal and forces them to make a decision is going to pop up.

First Pinch

Your character made the decision to engage with the first plot point. They signed on with a mentor, accepted the quest, or entered the death mash gala. Actions have consequences, and their decision is the action that is going to propel your character straight into the gaping maw of their first real problem. Does their new teacher have a stuck-up favorite student who trashes your character on the first day? Does the quest prove to be 10x more dire than they have the training for? Did they think the death gala was about metal music and not having an ax shoved in their face sharp side first? These are all things that your character is going to have to deal with very quickly.

Midpoint

Your character survived their encounter with the first pinch. Maybe they were able to pull a trick out of their back pocket and get away, or maybe someone had to bail them out, but they emerged all the same and are now at a cross roads. Are they going to keep acting in a way that will allow the first pinch to cycle back into their life? Or, the much better option, are they going to change something about themselves and how they act to enable them to deal with any future issues? Hiding behind the teacher is only going to get you pummeled again. Training your butt off and learning to defend yourself is an active way to prepare for the next attempt so you don’t wind up flat out on the train grounds again.

Second pinch

The midpoint has passed and your character decided to be a doer and not wait to get in trouble again. This, however, does not stop trouble from arriving. In fact, their decision to not run away and hide is the precise reason trouble decided it was within its rights to waltz up to your character and strike once more. Depending on your story, and the specific choice your character made that propelled them from the midpoint to the second pinch, the second pinch will take shape. A larger group of bullies, a secret organization that wants the hero dead, your character’s crazy abusive ex with a baseball bat at three in the morning in a dark alleyway; these are all potential second pinches as long as they stem from that midpoint choice and bring your character to the brink of disaster. We’re only two points away from the end, after all, so if it’s really the main second pinch of the story, it’s going to be a big deal.

Second Plot Point

Your character started a journey. The faced a trial and decided to change themselves to reach the goal they set out to accomplish. This did nothing to stop another problem from knocking them down to a level of pain and despair that they didn’t realize could exist. What decision did they make to get out of that darkness? They resolved to be stronger before, what is there to decide now? There is a climax looming in the distance and one more decision that needs to be made.

Resolution

Did they make the right decision? Did they get back on their feet from the pit of despair and continue on? If so, you’re going to reach the climax and resolution of your story. Everything else should have been building to this moment, all the character’s training and suffering have led to what is happening here and now. They’ve made their choices and dealt with the consequences. This is their final consequence to face and the glory they receive afterwards.

Flexibility

It’s not much of a surprise to think that as long as you have a set of probably cause and effects, you can carry a story like this on for more than just the initial seven points. You can also increase the length and strengthen the pacing by overlapping several characters’ decision arcs to create an ample supply of sub-plots to fuel your story. The seven-point structure is also good for a wide variety of genres due to the fact that decisions are made in romance, fantasy, sci-fi, and more. If you’re looking for a plotting structure with options and simplicity, I would definitely recommend giving this a try.

Subplots

While making the skeleton outline for the main story, I mentioned that some stories have subplots that run alongside their primary narrative. Not every story does, especially if you are writing a one-shot short story, and there is nothing wrong with taking a single topic and following it through without any detours. However, many (if not most) stories have subplots that run alongside the main story. From a love interest in an action piece to that pesky job that prevents the protagonist from spending as much time as she would like with her family, subplots should always contain something that is paramount to the overall story even when it pulls away from the main action.

I’ve read too many books, and I’m sure you have too, where the subplot becomes more of a side tangent. It’s not relevant plot-wise, nor is it a sub category of the main story. This is something that, even if interesting, would be better suited for a prologue, epilogue, or completely different story. Keeping the story on track means that anything you write about that isn’t one of the primary plot points should still pick your characters up and send them hurling across the pages in that direction as opposed to letting them meander their way three towns over. No reader enjoys having to slog through the storm of unfulfilled tension to grab your characters by the ear and drag them back to where the action is because the author forgot to do it for them. There’s evil afoot and dagnabit we need to be doing something about it!

If you’ve read all the preceding articles, you probably would have picked up on what I’m going to suggest to help prevent wandering plots.

Stick to Primary

During the two character posts, I mentioned sticking to PCs or primary characters while doing the exercises. The reason is simple, to help guide you through this step. The first rule to making sure your subplots stay on track is to make absolutely certain every plot point contains at least one of the primary characters doing something important. In the majority of cases, that one character will be your main character. But, if you are writing in third person omniscient, it could be any of them.

Having a primary character does not automatically assure that a thread is a worthy subplot, however, and there are more classifications.

Make it Matter

The second rule to crafting a worthy subplot is to make sure it matters to the main plot of the story. If it isn’t, it probably doesn’t belong. The one exception would be introducing something into the first book of a series that will come back later on to be important.

Sticking to the first part, keeping it relevant, I will give a quick example of what I mean. To explain for those who have never watched anime, and to re-traumatize those who have, many popular shows run into a frustrating problem comparable to this point. Manga, the Japanese comics that anime tend to be based on, are often picked up for shows as soon as their popularity takes off. This means, in many cases, that the manga itself is not fully written and is continuing to release issues as the anime is being made. Do you see where this is going? With the majority of the story already written, character designs already made, and larger teams able to work with and compile the shows, anime often times quickly catches up and surpasses the amount of material the original author has made.

There have been two routes normally taken by animators when this happens, because stopping production of a popular show is absolutely unthinkable. The first is to get a team together and scrape together a satisfying conclusion to the story that may or may not have anything to do with how the manga will end. This is used in shows that have very serious subject matter in most cases as any deviation will completely throw off the meter of the story.

The other route is filler arcs. 99% of filler arcs fall into the side tangent category as opposed to the subplot category. You don’t know frustration until you’ve sat through a twenty-episode tournament, received five episodes of plot, and were then blindsided by Tournament Zero: it’s like the last one, but the same! Don’t write a tournament zero. Also, don’t write the details of your side character’s multiple love affairs in extended detail unless a messy divorce or twenty summonses (I can’t believe that’s actually the plural) for child support are going to play into the overall plot of the story. We can know that he’s been with one of every bipedal species in the realm without having to hear about it. Unless you’re writing a bard erotica. But it wouldn’t be the side plot in that case.

From A to B

If you stick with primary characters and maintain subject matter that is important to the main plot, you’re almost guaranteed to create a working subplot. Almost. There is one last thing to keep in mind when you look over your sidelined ideas that didn’t make it into the main plot of your story. Does it keep the main plot moving, even if we’ve stepped away from it?

Sometimes, that’s easy to answer. If one of your obstacle bullet points is needing a key to get to the bad guy, a side plot where the heroes go on a dungeon crawl to obtain said key is a pretty safe bet. If well written, not only do your characters obtain the much-needed item, but they learn a new ability that will come in handy later without having to completely stop the action for a training montage.

Other times, it’s a bit harder to balance. Comedic minor villains are a great way to break up the tension and even help the hero once they realize the main baddy is too terrible to support. But if you start dissecting their tragic backstory in two in-depth chapters three chapters away from the climactic battle, you’ve probably overdone their involvement.

Put it All Together

This can be one of the more difficult parts of the process. You know what points you want to add to the main skeleton, but where do they go? The key quest clearly comes after learning a key is needed, but will it be fully complete before the villain makes their next move? Does it make more sense to put the major argument of the couple before or after the accident? How will it change the perspective of the characters and the impression the readers have of them?

You might have to do some rearranging, because if you wanted subplot x to happen between main plot b and c but subplot x needs character 3 and character 3 isn’t introduced until after main plot d, you are going to have a problem on your hands. Maybe it is possible for subplot x to happen after main plot d. If not, can character 3 be introduced sooner?

No one but you can answer these questions. After struggling with it myself, I’ve come across many different suggestions on how best to spread out your ideas to help you decide. You can use sticky notes to have easy rearrangement, a solid line to squeeze points into so you don’t over fill one part of the story, whatever you need. My only recommendation is to keep it organized so you don’t have to worry about being confused later.

Sorry this wound up being a day late. It has been storming where I live and my internet keeps kicking in and out. Thank you for reading and keep imagining!