stupid subplot getting in the way of my story.(rant)

[killallhippies]

i'm such a disorderly writer. i started a story that i expected to be kinda long and about a very specific topic, but now i have trapped myself in the subplot from hell. HELL!! i hate trashing stories, but, damnit, it looks like i'm gonna have to. too much plot is bad.

i think i'm just going to have to rip the subplot out of the story and use that instead. everything else is just wasted effort.

this sucks. i really wanted to start writing longer stories. i shelved my other story just to make this attempt. now i'll two first chapters without follow ups floating around the net.

at least this one won't be called chapter one, so i can take my fucking time and maybe type up that gay story i've been promising myself to finish for months now.

 

[Guest]

Kill, it's not wasted. The only way to become a better writer is to write (and write and write). Go with the subplot, YOU wrote it, despite your first intentions. Don't bemoan what happens as long as you keep writing. Btw, not easy for me to say.

Perdita

 

[Colleen Thomas]

It's only wasted time if you learn nothing from the effort. Longer stories require plot and subplot to really make them move. You have to keep an interest level in the reader. If you learn not to dive into a deep sublot you haven't thought out, then you are richer for the experience

-Colly

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

Just one question. Did you outline first?

If you did, tough luck.

If you didn't, you know what lesson you just learned, right?

 

[gauchecritic]

I don't do sub-plots in the traditional sense (weaving throughout) I seem to just add another short story and then go back to the main. Cop out I know, but I've only written short stories anyway.

Gauche

 

[killallhippies]

I don't do sub-plots in the traditional sense (weaving throughout) I seem to just add another short story and then go back to the main. Cop out I know, but I've only written short stories anyway.

Gauche

that was pretty much where it was headed. i was tempted to just break the story up into chapters, but it didn't seem right for a story that i only planned on making 30 word pages in size 10 font long.

Just one question. Did you outline first?

If you did, tough luck.

If you didn't, you know what lesson you just learned, right?

no, i didn't. i never have. it was in my head. i never outline. i'm not even sure how to anymore.


thanks, ct and p. i am still writing it. i've just switched gears and i'm keeping the new sub plot minor and restrained so i can ditch it if i need to without ruining the story.

 

[Boota]

I talked online to one of my favorite authors, Christopher Moore, and he gave me a great idea for keeping track of a story. It's really simple and I'm surprised I had never thought of it before. Take an 18' X 24" sketchpad (Or bigger if necessary) and draw a line across the bottom of the page. Decide approximately where in the story that certain things need to happen and put a hash mark through the bottom line and a small description in a box coming from the hash mark. Just go along the line and fill in the empty spaces with other situations, scenes, dialogue, or whatever. It seems easier to keep track of subplot when it is right there on one page. I track my subplots and their relationship to each other by using colored pencils. Then I can see where the purple subplot collides with the green subplot, and so on.

This system is working great for me. On my first novel I spent a lot of time backtracking and looking things up in notes and in the text. I'm flying through this next novel due to two things. More experience and knowing how to read a map.