I love how you explain "subplots" as a concept!! what's funny is that i think i have the same mindset in that i don't "brainstorm" subplots, but as i'm planning and drafting the main plot, subplots naturally arise. because i play so many video games, when i'm writing i mentally use a "side quest" + "main quest" framework (lol😭), with the main quest being the overarching plot/the character's long-term journey and side quests are the plot beats (side adventures?) they need to go through in order to reach their destination and mature along the way!
(Just wanted to quickly point out that what some writers call 'side quests' are specifically subplots that can entirely be skipped without changing anything about the main story - just to warn you that using that term may cause miscommunications, in case you choose to) I work the same though. To me, what I call 'subplots' are 'subparts of the plot'. As in, this or that character relationship is a subplot, my main character's relationship to themself is a subplot, the progress towards the intended goal of my MC is a subplot...I track all of these separately to make sure I don't leave stuff out, but I couldn't just remove one from the story without things breaking down - and if I can, then that shows me that maybe I don't need that particular subplot as much as I thought I did, or that its relationship to the rest of the story needs work To me in my head though it looks more like threads. Like a friendship bracelet, with the overall pattern being made up of threads of different colors that wind and knot together ...just realized this kinda resembles the tapestry metaphor from The Prince of Egypt lol
Starting out with specificity, love to see it, very on brand! As always, very insightful video. I love how thoughtful you are when giving out writing advice, it really shows a true passion for the craft. I'm so grateful for this channel
I had to stop on the fashion comment, so glad someone brought it up. And I’m a girl by the way, super girly, I would live in princess gowns if I could. But I’m also a fashion junkie. I just love all the different styles there are out there and you are a great example of someone who perfectly puts together a wardrobe. I don’t see any cookie cutter aesthetics. I see coffee shops, libraries, a writer, moody forest walks, years of study, European vacations, you. Everything about what you wear feels like it belongs on the person you are. In a world where everyone is so easily influenced by trends it is nice to see someone who still knows how to decide if they would wear something or not based on what they like and not what the world tells them they should be ❤
i feel like the worst writing advice is all scenes should serve the plot bc 1) why do you hate fun character moments and 2) bold of you to assume my book has a plot
Great video! I often watch something from this channel or from Reedsy to get in the mood before I write. I feel like a better writer too. (Also you always have the best button ups. I especially love the coloring in this one!)
love the “fear of editing” question at 18:10. I consider myself a discovery writer because I don’t outline, but when I’m working on a first draft I tend to be more meticulous and decisive with how I move forward. Rewriting is where I have the most fun and get to experiment. When there is a first draft as a reference point I have more confidence in making big changes and letting intuition guide me to the best my story can be. It’s easier to take those risks when there is at least one version of the story to go back to.
Thank you for saying you don't really think about subplots! I always freak out when someone mentions how to weave them in because I don't actively plan them. I get that panic attack like "Oh crap! I haven't done any of that! I'm going to have revise everything!" 😅
(I love your advice about teens--sharing with friends and family can be the worst thing in many situations as they rarely represent one's 'ideal reader, even if they mean to be supportive. And sadly for many, they are surrounded by people who will criticize or even mock more than support.) Thinking about teen writing: my work now can be very dark, but as a teen, I was writing about unicorns and sweeping fantasy romance with total escapism feel-good vibes. Or at least that's how I remember them. My home life was very controlling and abusive, so I think I liked the escape of happy fantasy worlds. Now that I've been out of that environment for a while (a very long while 😄), the darkness has seeped back in. Then again, sometimes it's the reader who tells me something is super dark when I really didn't see it that way myself. But if I wasn't writing it, I know I was reading it (*cough* V.C. Andrews, Frank De Felitta's The Entity *cough cough*)
For me, "subplots" is a perfectly good term for exactly what you're describing (which is to say I agree with your approach, but mildly disagree on your criticism, but per your first segment, *do what works for you*). The reason I prefer to use the term subplots is because to me, that implies that they are sort of like sub-headings or sub-titles. They are support for the main plot. As an example, I a POV character with a romantic subplot. This romance is not core to the main story, but it *does* impact that POV character in a way that ties in very closely with her conflict in the main story. Ultimately, this romance with another character forces her to face her fears and her flaws from a different angle, but they are still the same fears and flaws she is struggling with during the main plot. My character doesn't want to risk her own neck for others. This is fine for a while, since she's hunting down the antagonist for personal reasons, but it comes to a head when she realizes the antagonist wasn't who she thought it was, and that the right thing to do is to risk her life for the helpless. She doesn't *want* to do that, and she instead chooses to wash her hands of the situation, but this pisses off her love interest who is all about doing things for the group. These things pile up until the MC has no choice but to acknowledge her own selfishness and overcome it. I think of subplots as this way of jabbing the MC from all directions, but hitting them in the same spot, screaming at them that they must change. Subplots highlight the fact that the problem is internal, not external -- after all, if the problem was only external, then the MC wouldn't be dealing with the same crisis from multiple angles.
Subplots are a tool. Subplots are my bread and butter when fleshing out a story because, as you've said, they ARE the main plot but threaded in at different junctures. Workshops for me have always been a roulette wheel, and that's likely because my work tends not to be workshop-friendly. What I mean by that is a stream of consciousness style which (even when I provide a disclaimer to fellow workshoppers) leaves them scratching their heads over how ideas are associating with each other. Extra frustration happens when landing in a group with people who don't know how to have fun. Similarly, a piece being "flashier" or with a "pop" is perhaps a stronger contest strategy for other writers than for me. When I get flashy it overwhelms people, though to be fair I can't read judges' minds, I can only go off the sixth sense of where the general mood is flowing. Adults thinking they know what's "too dark" for a teen writer is the reason my high school experience was like sitting on nails.
Realizing the main character is gay happens to me every single Time I start a new project. I’m always like this is a story about straight people then like once I finish the outline I’m like “ohhhh this was a story homosexual love” LOL
I'm beginning to think that most of my work will benefit from a rewrite. I.e. all of my best works are works that I rewrote at some point in the process. My process seems to be mophing to: - begin draft - outline - finish draft - revisit outline - rewrite from the beginning - revise/edit
I had a vision of a memorable silhouette logo of your face existing in the future, where a collar and dangly earrings and curly short hair make it so immediately recognizable. Just white with black line drawing. It looks cool :-)
Another good way to view subplots is to see the novel or story as a tree- the main plot being the trunk and the subplots the branches building and specifying different aspects of the main plot. The larger the tree, the more depth- but make sure there isn't too much so as one can see all the branches. They are all part of the same tree, and what happens individually we affect the rest.
I was a Psych major before I had to drop out and my special interest is psychology, family trauma, etc. so of course I’m writing a book about wild family trauma 😂
Great video as always! Thank you for sharing your knowledge🙏 Speaking of psychology, I think reading Freud is a fun way to get character ideas. He describes a lot of niche cases and then interpretes them in an even nicheier way. Ofc, his interpretations shouldn't be taken at face value, but like what-if scenarios you could muse on. There's stuff like "after the loss of a loved one, the psyche takes on parts of their personality" which could be a synopsis for a story of any genre from horror to litfic to fantasy I'm not a fan of psychoanalysis as a therapy school, but imo many psychoanalytical concepts are extremely engaging from the storytelling perspective.
