I am in the midst of planning/starting to right a story. There will be the main character, and a secondary sub character which will have its own little sub plot, as well as tying in with the main storyline. The idea is, that in his sub plot, he will not mention anything about his involvement with the main part of the storyline. I am wondering how to coordinate the two characters- Written in third person. Different Chapters, a new paragraph? There name at the beginning of a sentence? Its rather confusing me, and I would appreciate your help. Thanks in advance.
Different chapters, since the subplots don't converge until much later in the book. You'll need to work on your spelling though, before you write your story.
Thanks. Sorry. That was a silly mistake. I do know its meant to be write. I'm just tired. I appreciate the feedback though.
Another little trick I have found to work is write a timeline.... If easiest make the simple timeline graph |---|----|----|-----| Then add in each appropriate event for the entire length of the story. The two things this can do to assist you is first of all give you a reference to refer back to, and secondly give you a model with which to write your story.
What is your genre of your story? This was the aspect I found most challenging in my storytelling. I know I have fully enjoyed stories that chop between one perspective or another or when you have chapters that jump forward and backwards in time. Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton is the most recent comes to mind. But it also often feels clumsy when I am reading it. Cloud Atlas by David MItchell is really interesting and I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed it even more the second time when I read each story in isolation, instead of the book as he wrote it. Mine is fantasy so I have had more options to get round it. The story can be really good written when it is dealt with in chapters, but I much prefer stories where the author is creative about how they connect the stories and make the sub plot part of the main story somehow. I am trying to think of a non fantasy example though, only one I can think of off the top of my head is Agatha Christie when she gets everyone together in the room at the end. Personally i have found it works well to write each story separately then look at ways to get them to converge. In my first novel I used my main character being told about things when he was ill. In my second I have the option of using a ring or a wolf to allow the reader to see a character that has been kidnapped which forms my sub plot.
The genre is mainly mystery. Basically, ,the main character is trying to solve the mystery, because some people she knows are getting in trouble for it. The sub character, is the person that did it (as in. Started the fire that the others are getting blamed for), but he only mentions reading about the fire in the news, and it coming up in light conversation. He never actually gives anything away about the fire, but his subplot is that he has difficulties with his father. The time line sounds like a great idea, thanks. I don't think I could write much of a fantasy story, for some reason, in my writing I feel like having a explanation to it. I do enjoy reading some fantasy though and your first novel sounds very interesting.
Mine was fantasy by accident lol started out as a Thriller/Murder Mystery. I ended up moving the story to a made up country and then planet just to get round some I had encountered in telling the story. The basic murder has never changed. Mystery is a good one for finding devices for a sub plot though, especially now with spy technology available. I still love the basic get everyone together in a room at the end etc Or maybe the Father could be friends with the investigator or they share a housekeeper etc
Yes, I had planned on the father being related to the police department some how, but I wanted it to be more direct, as in he works, or is strongly involved with the police, rather then just being a friend of someone. I thought it would give me reason for a slightly dramatic ending.
It sounds exciting Chapters maybe the way you need to go, it doesn't matter it can still be a fantastic story.
Reading Suggestion Try reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. The two characters don't even meet until 400 pages in...
