Sunday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

SUBPLOTS AND THE GREAT SWAMPY MIDDLE

By: Karen Woodward

Today I’d like to talk about something that puzzled me no end when I first began writing: subplots. I’ve been reading Robert McKee’s book, “Story” and what follows draws liberally from his insights.

The Shifting Sands of Terminology

Subplots, main subplots, main plots, central plots, minor arcs, major arcs, and so on. As I’ve read about writing over the years each of these terms has been pressed into service to describe the interwoven threads of a story.

The idea that I came away with—and it’s not at all a bad way of looking at it—is that a novel length story isn’t composed of just one plot but many. One of these plots will form the spine of the story and the other plots, the subplots, are woven around the spine, strengthening it, giving it depth and complexity. 

The plot that forms the spine of the story, let’s call this the central plot, this plot line involves the main character’s pursuit of her goal, the obstacles she has to overcome, the cost of winning/failing as well as the final outcome.

But not all stories have subplots. There are good stories—heck, great stories!—that don’t have subplots. “The Fugitive” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” for example. 

So, what’s the deal? Do we need subplots? If so, why? What do they do? What’s their function in a story?

Subplots are a tool—one of them—that will help get a writer through the Great Swampy Middle of Despair.

. . .

Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. The Key Differences Between Middle Grade vs Young Adult | WritersDigest.com http://ow.ly/BrzXT
2. Janet Reid, Literary Agent: Question: 5 Key Things to know about personalizing your query http://ow.ly/BrA6B
3. Karen Woodward: Subplots And The Great Swampy Middle http://ow.ly/BrAdy
4. After 20 Novels, What Does Your Editing Process Look Like? | Lindsay Buroker http://ow.ly/BrAkd
5. How to Write a Clean First Draft | Indies Unlimited http://ow.ly/BrAsu
6. Microsoft Word | styles | formatting | Lynne Cantwell | Indies Unlimited http://ow.ly/BrABx
7. Using Story Beats To Increase Writing Speed | David Gaughran http://ow.ly/BrAKU
8. What Do Pre-Orders Mean for Your Book? - Jeni Chappelle http://ow.ly/BrAYz
9. Barnes & Noble on the Brink | Hugh Howey http://ow.ly/BrB6n
10. 7 Health Tips for Writers Who Don't Get Enough Exercise http://ow.ly/BrBhJ
11. 7 Ways to Prevent Carpal Tunnel for Writers http://ow.ly/BrBpB
12. Picking a Juicy Secret to Jazz Up Your Character - Writingeekery http://ow.ly/Bs7aH
13. Why It’s A Good Idea For Screenwriters To Write Books | Gideon's Screenwriting Tips: So Now You're a Screenwriter... http://ow.ly/Bs7dX
14. Plot-driven or Character-driven: Does it Really Matter? - Jeni Chappelle http://ow.ly/Bs7h8
15. Lessons Learned From 3 Years As An Author-Entrepreneur | The Creative Penn http://ow.ly/Bs7jp
16. Writer Unboxed » The Surprising Importance of Doing Nothing http://ow.ly/Bs7sh
17. ThrillWriting: How to Punch Cement - for Writers http://ow.ly/Bs7pV
18. Writing and Social: Why the Written Word Is Your Marketing Advantage | Social Media Examiner http://ow.ly/Bs7NB
19. Creating and Selling Ebooks Webinar : @ProBlogger http://ow.ly/Bs7P3
20. Why You Must Not Ignore The Call to Adventure - Copyblogger http://ow.ly/Bs7Q6
21. 21 Book Marketing Tips for Authors http://ow.ly/Bs88k
22. Writability: 5 Things You Don’t Need in Your Query http://ow.ly/Bs8av

Happy writing and running, Kathy