Tag: Romance

Creating Subplots

A great fantasy story must always incorporate more than just a main plotline. Smaller stories and adventures should be included to give more insight into the characters and build up to the climax of the main story. Subplots tend to show progress and growth in a character without necessarily being part of their main journey or goal. These subplots can focus on the main character and their secondary goals or a secondary character and their own storyline. All subplots should relate back to the main plot and intersect the story in some way. That could mean relating back to the main themes or showing progress in the characters that are essential to the main journey.

Types of Subplots

There is a wide variety of subplots to choose from when looking at your own novel. Here are a few useful ones to recognize:

  • One of the most common and most recognizable subplots are romantic subplots. The main character falls in love with a secondary character who in turn reveals a lot of intimate information about the former character’s motivations, dreams, and personality traits. Romantic subplots are often the easiest to incorporate into most genres; with fantasy, they tend to walk hand in hand.
  • Another solid subplot idea for fantasy is something brewing in the political world. My own book explores this in the way of political tension, subverting alliances, and the constant presence of impending war. This subplot is often a great way to bring in detailed worldbuilding and historical background into your story.
  • It is always a great idea to show conflict between main and secondary characters. This can include a conflict with a villain that perhaps exists on the fringes of your main plot or an argument with a friend or lover that changes the main character’s course. These subplots add depth to your characters and often can have a transformative effect on a character’s psyche.
  • Anything that showcases a character’s strengths, flaws, and motivations can be incorporated into the story as a subplot. You’re not limited to the types of ideas I’ve listed above.

A Tip On Identifying and Incorporating Subplots

When I finished the first draft of Chasing Fae, one of things I did was take several sheets of paper and draw out several large arcs. I then went through my book and labeled each event of the main plot on one arc. On the next few, I took some time to pick out the events in my novel that didn’t connect directly to the main storyline. Those, I then was able to sort and begin to create some subplot arcs. Wherever I saw gaps, I made notes on what to write to fill them in to make my subplots complete. The final arc I used to create a character arc so I could definitively see how Grace changed and grew over the course of the entire novel. If there wasn’t a logical jump between one point and another, I created a new event to add in my second draft and create a new subplot off of that.

I would highly recommend this method if you’re having trouble identifying what kind of subplots you want to incorporate or what subplots you already have brewing. It also serves as a great tool to break your story down and really gain a deep understanding of your characters and your plot.

I hope this has been helpful. Happy writing!

Writing Romance

Today, I received a request to write a bit about romantic tendencies in fantasy stories. So, I am going to go over the basics of incorporating romance into your fantasy story. I feel that is what I am the most equipped to talk about. I hope that this is helpful!

Where does romance fit in?

Adding romance to your fantasy story is a fantastic concept. It is an element that is widely used in many of today’s most popular fantasy novels. Romance blends in with other genres more easily than others because it is all about character relationships, which every story should have anyway. However, it is important to take note that romance must play as a secondary element to your story. You cannot let it take over the main plotline, or you have created a different subgenre entirely. You begin to switch over into fantastical romance. Of course, if that’s the direction you want to go, by all means ignore the above note. But if you’re looking to have romance be a subplot, make sure it doesn’t encroach on the main plot.

Romance Builds

When writing romance, you have to understand that no matter how fast a relationship may develop, relationships all build. You can notice clear steps in how the relationship developed no matter what pace. From the meeting point to the first date or the first hookup to future dates and conversations, all points should be clearly defined and moving towards your eventual outcome. These events don’t all have to be physical events; they can be mental stages as well. For example, when a character first realizes they are in love or when they decide to tell their partner one of their darkest secrets. When writing romance, make sure you can see a clear progression of the relationship.

Relationships are not smooth.

If you have ever been in a relationship before, any relationship at all in any stage, you should know that they are not smooth. They are not easy. Things don’t always go to plan. Relationships shift and break and grow back together. People fight and cry and say things they don’t mean and then apologize profusely. DO NOT and I repeat, DO NOT let your characters off easy. No matter how compatible they are, your characters will have relationship problems. Give them something to fight over. Expose their character flaws through interactions with each other. It will help them grow as characters and as romantic partners.

Don’t be afraid to write something unexpected.

Love is an interesting thing. Everyone has different experiences with it. With all of the romantic clichés out there, it can be very easy to slip into writing something very simple and straightforward. Even with all of the problems and conflict, a romantic subplot can read very fake and disingenuous. Don’t be afraid to throw something out of the box at your characters. Don’t be afraid to confront something that is normally untouched in relationships. Don’t be afraid to explore the mental relationships between romantic partners as well as the physical ones. People fall in love in mysterious ways. Let yourself write that.