Sub Plots

An early Dramatica article from October 23, 1993

How do Subplots work?

Subplots are miniature stories in their own right with one important difference: the Main Character of each subplot is also a character in the Main Plot, but is never the Main Character. There reasons for this are simple. Stories provide an audience with a subjective view of the problem through the eyes of a Main Character. They also provide an objective view through the eyes of the author. If a Main Character of a story had a subplot attached to them they would have two subjective views: one for each plot. As a result the two views would overlap each other obscuring the message of the story.

The uses of subplots are many, but all revolve around one consideration: the author wants to explore some aspect of the main story in more detail that would prove interesting. To overcome this constraint, an author can create a mini-story revolving around a character in the main story that resides in the area of interest. In this manner, new dramatic tensions can be created that will sustain interest while the author explore.

Subplots can also be used to maneuver a character into a new understanding so a necessary function they must fill in the main plot will not appear to come out of left field.