  Drama
This week: Subplots: Using Secondary Characters Edited by: Joy  
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In suspense novels even subplots about relationships have to have conflict.
Jeffrey Deaver
There is more pleasure to building castles in the air than on the ground.
Edward Gibbon
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. This issue is on using secondary characters for creating subplots.
Your Drama Newsletter Editors: zwisis NickiD89  kittiara Joy
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
Note: In the editorial, I refer to third person singular as he, to also mean the female gender, because I don't like to use they or he/she. |
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
If you have ever wondered which components could be added to a successful plotline to enhance the drama and weight of a story or play, the answer is the subplots
| mini stories within the main plot |
| the core story we plan with a premise, a protagonist, an antagonist, and a conflict |
Subplots are less important than main plot, or rather, they should be. If a subplot is more important or exciting than the main story, it means you are writing the wrong story, and it is time to reassess your priorities.
There are two types of subplots. First type is the subplots that run parallel to each other without an effect on each other even though something about them, maybe setting or a social message, is a connection. Second type is the subplots that emerge from the main plot.
For the moment, we’ll put aside the first type. Instead, we’ll concentrate on subplots that arise from the main story because they deepen and enrich the concept in the main story or move the course of the main story in a direction it could not go by itself.
The second type is sometimes called branched or hinged subplots because they are connected to the main plot in an inseparable way. As we have seen in successful fiction, best stories contain subplots that go back and forth between the subplots and main plot. Take Star Wars 1, for example. Han Solo’s story starts as a story in its own right and then joins with the main story at the hip. If Han Solo weren’t indebted to Jabba the Hutt, he would not fight with Luke. If he did not fight with Luke, the war would not be won. Then take the subplot of Yoda. If it weren’t for Yoda’s advice, who’d know what Luke would do?
To find your subplots from the main storyline
| The entire course a story takes in a fictional work |
 Think about the most important secondary characters for they are the ones that help explain the protagonist
| the main character in a fictional work |
| The self-consistent setting of a fictional work |
List, for each chosen character, the main problem, conflict or goal. (What is his life problem? What does he want the most? Or what does he not want to happen?)
For each character, list three or more options/steps to reach that character’s goal. These options should be the ones tied to the main plot and those you cannot possibly leave out.
Consulting your lists, outline each character’s story, paying attention to the way the protagonist’s traits inform and influence the subplot you are creating.
Give each subplot a backstory
| story that tells what led up to the main story or plot, usually involving the setting's or the main character's story, before the main story began |
As you write or outline the main story--that is, the conflict
| the greatest struggle between opposing forces in a story |
 A good exercise is to write from multiple subplots to see which ones can grow into subplots for the main story.
In addition, keep in mind that an average-sized novel contains only two or three subplots with one of them being more important to the main plot than the others. Too many subplots, especially if they are loosely attached, can take the attention away from the main story.
While we are at it, let’s take a look at what not to do with subplots.
Don’t write a subplot with the same focus and word count as the main plot.
Don’t put a subplot into a story for it only to add to the word count and take up space.
Don’t let subplots dangle as if they belong to a different story without a connection to the main plot.
Don’t let a too strong subplot weaken the main plot.
Let us take a second look at our long stories, novels, and plays to find out if we can enhance them further with successful subplots. This may be just what is needed.
Until next time… 
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 Enjoy!
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Subplot Exercises by Writing.Com Members:
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This Issue's Tip:
For emotional impact, you might choose (very carefully and with restraint) to begin your story with an exciting action by the antagonist, instead of the protagonist, as in Star Wars and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
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 Reading Recommendation: A book with drama
If you have a recommendation, a few words on a book or a product review, send it to me or to this newsletter. I'll highlight it here.
by lberty98
[[ Product review #111390 does not exist. ]]
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jack-tyler
I think it was Dean Koontz who said in a radio interview I was fortunate enough to catch, "Once you know what dark secret your character is protecting, he will fairly leap off the page." Seems to go hand-in-hand with what you're saying here.
Yes, Dean Koontz is good with secrets, especially in giving them to the readers piecemeal. Thanks for the input.
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Grace♥Leo health issues 
This newsletter is sensational! Lots of suggestions for writers at all levels. I love it!
The Secret.
Grace L
Thank you very much, Grace. 
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Mia - craving colour 
Hi Joy, I just finished reading your article on secrets. It's inspired me to return to a neglected novel. You've given me a way to add depth to the story. Thank you.
Don't we all have neglected work! Thanks for the feedback.
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Quick-Quill 
"Vanishing of Katherine Sullivan BK" [ASR]
My novel in revision is all about a secret. The whole town kept it and won't give it up. Matt wants to know what happened to his grandmother....Secrets we just love them.
Yes, sometimes secrets make the novel. Thanks.
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pinkbarbie
Hi, after reading this newsletter there's one title that's constantly running through my mind: Perfect Stranger. It's a movie starring Halle Berry who was investigating a murder and at the same time was troubled by her own secrets. Of course, Clark's secret of being Superman is another great example and many others. I totally agree that secrets make stories enjoyable. I just needed a reminder that this newsletter did. Thank you very much for it.
Thanks for the input. Movies are great, although I don't get to go as often as I used to, but the DVDs make up for it.
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BIG BAD WOLF is Merry 
"Monsters Versus Aliens Sequel" [13+]
Sometimes the Secret is "What Mission does the Crew get?"
It makes one wonder about that crew's mission.
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Seamus Leo
Does a secret have to be told?
How do you weave a secret and a mystery together?
Clues to veiling a secret?
Rumi and the Sieks and the Sufi all have a saying in common. The poet says,I know the secret, and the other will reply Yes I know the secret, do you know the secret, and the previous would ask Why yes I know the secret but do you know the secret?
Good questions, and I love Rumi.
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blunderbuss
Hi Joy
I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that somebody else had actually read Lady Audley’s Secret! Great newsletter and I am thinking about secrets now - making characters more complex and interesting.
Oh well, that book created a major sensation in its time, more so than today's 50 Shades of Grey. Thanks for the feedback.
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Drama: April 03, 2013 Issue [#5569]
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