Hi forums I'm currently planning a story that features a lot of different characters, even generations of characters, and a lot of seperate events happening in different places. I've come up with many short stories before but this is my first time with one of this scale. I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips or techniques for working with complex plots- I've been drawing maps and charting routes, planning timelines, family trees and the like, but I'm interested to hear what everyone else does when dealing with a story of a larger scale. I just find it can get a bit overwhelming when theres a lot of things going on at the same time with so many characters, which way to order the main story events, the ways that the characters and plotlines link up, you all know what I'm talking about. If anyone has some experience with or ideas about writing complex plots then I'd love to hear your opinion. Cheers
If this is your first attempt at a novel, I'd tone it down, keep the plot streamlined to make it easier on yourself at the start. I've been writing novels, off and on since mid 80's and full-time, in some such way or the other, since 07 and there's limits to how complex I can handle. Don't bite off more then you can chew or you'll get discouraged quickly.
When I make up stories on car rides and stuff I sometimes use reoccurring characters and places, and it can lead to a large story. I would recommend that you try just using the characters in short stories and then thread them together to create a history. I have never wrote a long complicated stories before, I wouldn't trust my advice.
I think the best idea is to write the short stories as chapters or so and for every short story that ends, it leads up to the beginning of the next story, making sure the main plot thickens. You can also title the chapters with the characters names so then readers don't get confused who the chapter is based on. If you feel like your novel will become too large then maybe you could try and separate it into series of books. Just don't try not to over do it for yourself, if you think a short story isn't going to fit within the main plot, don't add it in.
