The romance genre is one of the most, if not the most, commercially successful genres, and having a romantic element in the story can spice up the plot and sales.Īll that being said, authors are by no means required to use a love story subplot if they don’t want to, and many of the most successful books of all time, both from a literary and commercial perspective, do not involve romance at all. The proliferation of love story subplots makes sense, too, especially from a commercial perspective. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.Rowling (and every subsequent book in the series-it took her to book four to fit one in though!) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K.Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.Their pervasiveness is so extreme that subplots are almost synonymous with love plots.Įxamples of love story subplots span the classics to modern bestsellers, and include: Love plots fit perfectly into almost every kind of story, from thrillers to adventure stories and even into love stories themselves ( Pride and Prejudice, anyone?). If you thought love stories, you were right. The Most Popular Types of Subplotsīy far, the most present and popular subplots across all genres of stories are … We’ve talked elsewhere about internal and external plots, but what are subplots? Subplot DefinitionĪ subplot is a secondary storyline or plot within a story, sometimes involving the same characters and sometimes involving characters related to the main characters. However, most stories have multiple plot lines, almost always two and sometimes three: Good stories always contain one core plot. Ready to get started? Stories Have More Than One Plot Line I’ll start with the definition of the literary term, then show you how it fits into a story structure, examples of some of my favorite subplots, and even tips from my own experience on writing novels with subplots. In this article, I’m sharing everything you need to know about subplots. Great writers do this intentionally, weaving tension into their stories and then paying it off at the exact right moment.Īnd one of the best tools in a writer’s tool belt is the subplot.īut what is a subplot? How can you spot it in the books and stories you love most? And if you’re a writer, how do you use it to tell better stories?
At some point, in many of the best stories, it feels like everything is in complete chaos, and then, seemingly all at once, it’s as if the chaos has come to a head in a way that makes everything line up perfectly. Stories are complicated, twisty, multi-faceted things.
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