Handling Subplots in Your Novel Part 2

In my last blog, I discussed how subplots could add depth to stories with simple, direct plots. I also mentioned that subplot, just as central plots, must also run the gamut of conflict, complication, crisis, and resolution.

I also brought up the idea of thinking of subplots as a kind of braid where one subplot comes into view and then disappears behind another only to come back into view later. The problem with braided plots is that they can sometimes take so many twists and turns that they begin to resemble tangled string.  Make sure you tie up any loose ends in your subplots. Make sure they reach resolution.

One example of a story consisting of a few braided subplots is a novel called Undercover Cat. Disney based a movie on it called That Darn Cat.  For those who never saw the movie, it is the story of a Siamese cat who becomes mixed up with a case of kidnapping and bank robbery.  

In the first main scene, the cat is following a guy with a sack of salmon streaks he has just purchased at the butcher shop.  Soon they come to an apartment where the cat slips in and the viewer discovers that the guy and his buddy are bank robbers who have kidnapped a bank teller.   

While the cat is in the apartment, the bank teller gets the idea to scratch the word help on the back of her wristwatch and replace the cat’s collar with it.  However, she only gets the HEL on there before one of the kidnappers yells for her to hurry up with dinner. 

After the cat is let out, it heads back for home where his owner, Patty, and her boyfriend have just gotten back from a movie.  A few pets later, he goes outside where Patty’s sister is saying good night to her ride, Gregory, who is inviting her to dine on duck the following evening with him and his mother.  

The cat, overhearing this, wastes no time going to Gregory’s to find the duck hanging on the back porch where he devises a clever way to get it down.  This of course alerts the dog who alerts Gregory who chases the cat back to his house.  There Gregory confronts Patty and threatens to shoot the cat (DC) if he ever comes around his house again.  

Without boring you with too many more details, Patty and DC proceed upstairs where Patty finds the wristwatch around his neck.  When she sees the HEL on the back she is sure that someone is in trouble.  From there she goes to the FBI. 

All of this aside, my favorite subplot in this story begins back where Patty arrives home with her boyfriend, Canoe.  The old woman next door is watching through her window and is appalled that Patty would let a boy into her house while her parents are away.

The fun really starts when the FBI agent sets up a tracking station for the cat in Patty’s sister’s bedroom, which happens to be in the old lady’s view.  In one scene, she even ties a microphone to the end of some fishing line and casts it up toward the window in hopes of hearing the conversation between the couple in the bedroom.  In that scene her plan gets foiled by her husband who is irritated at her voyeuristic tendencies and at the fact that she has taken his hearing aids.

The old lady’s insatiable need to know eventually leads her on a pursuit beyond her front yard.  At this point her husband calls the police to report a man dressed as a woman prowling the neighborhood.  And you can probably guess how she feels about her husband by the time the police bring her home.  In fact she tells the policeman to wait because she is going in to murder someone.  Fortunately, her husband sees her coming and makes a break out the back door.

In this story, the subplots weave in and out in ways that help the story keep an engaging pace.  We aren’t left strictly following a cat around.  

  

But the cat is nevertheless the glue that holds the subplots to the central plot. Without the cat, Patty and the FBI agent’s silhouettes would not have been seen together in the window of Patty’s sister’s bedroom, and the lady next door wouldn’t have had anything to worry about beyond the boy walking into the front door.  Two other subplots owe their existence to the presence of the FBI agent at the home of the feline protagonist. 

As with a braid, each strand of subplot comes into view and then disappears behind another but is not forgotten.  In the end they are all neatly tied together, all converging to bring about a satisfying ending.  In the end the cat becomes a hero and all subplots reach a state of resolution.

Handling Subplots in Your Novel

You may find that in plotting your novel you have additional smaller plots that pop up in addition to your main plot.  These are called subplots.

Subplots can add a great deal of depth depending on the type of story you have.  They can also keep the story moving during a lull in the main plot.  But just as a main plot must follow the path of conflict, crisis, and resolution, the subplot must do the same.

For instance, in Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson, a family gets shipwrecked on a deserted island.  Initially, they must face the daunting task of finding food and shelter.  Later, the two oldest boys decide they want to explore the island in hopes of finding other inhabitants and end up rescuing a girl disguised as a cabin boy, whom of course they both fall in love with. To complicate matters, the girl had been the prisoner of some pirates who decide to come for her. But the main plot is the family’s struggle to make the island as much like home as possible while maintaining the hope of getting off.

The battle over the girl’s affection is a subplot with its own conflict or complication, crisis, and resolution.

Complication or conflict: the brothers find out the cabin boy is actually a girl, and they both find her attractive.

Crisis: their jealousy leads to heated exchanges and eventually escalates into a fist fight.

Resolution: the girl makes her choice, and the losing brother accepts the reality. 

One way you can handle subplots is by weaving them together as you would a braid.  Ansen Dibell describes it this way in her book Plot:

In long fiction, plots don’t merely alternate with subplots: they’re often woven together in something very like a braid.  One strand loops around to the outside, out of sight, then warps in or under to briefly become the central point before warping off for another turn.

Once you have the initial situation running, with the major characters established and facing some crucial problem the reader can tell isn’t going to go away, a braided plot won’t just continue on. You’ll bring in a new subject, one that has some new plot thread which you make clear but leave unresolved so that the reader can see that there are more developments to come.

She also writes that subplots work best for stories with plots that are direct (A and B meet, A and B lose each other, A and B find each other again) because it can give them an added dimension and make the stories less predictable. Conversely, subplots may be a problem in stories with central plots that are slow to unfold and are less direct.

The thing to remember is that subplots should only be used as long as the main plot is strong enough to handle the diversions.