Writing about painful incidents from life

Dear M,

There was an incident that happened about twelve years ago. I was not among the ones that were directly hit by it, but I was in an inner circle. It was not easy to get over it, especially the questions it raised. The Why? Why? of it.

I never found out the answers. Probably that's why I never found a closure with it. I could probably have dug deeper into it, but it would have reopened the wounds of the people who were trying to get past it.

I met them again last month. It was not something you grow out of or you can move away from. It was something that would hang over their heads for ever. They had worked their lives around it. Things are looking good for them now, there have been happier incidents in the past few years and it did fill our hearts to see them getting along.

The questions were not answered, though. I could not bring myself to ask those and risk seeing their pain.

Why did I bring this up now? Because in one of my recent stories, I wrote about it. The similarity is too thin to notice - except for the people who know and haven't forgotten. I don't know how it would be received if they read it. Would they think I have commercialised a personal tragedy?

For writers, sometimes the only way to let out pent-up emotions is to write about it. Others may easily claim that we're trying to make money out of it. But in truth, it is our own way of finding answers, of finding some peace. Twelve years hence, I still haven't found any peace with that incident, except a slight satisfaction when I met the people concerned. It is our own way of creating the same situation and explaining it the way we think it happened. It is our own way of trying to believe that it wasn't worse than we had imagined, that the real explanation isn't more terrible than we are trying to convince ourselves. Yes, the answers of the Why could indeed be anything.

Though it does not always help, it is our attempt to find some consolation. For a reader, it might seem like the author has quickly weaved it into the story for want of a better scene. Or that the writer is just another person who uses stories for their own purpose, like the media highlighting tragedies to lure viewers. It isn't.

Love.

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Sub-plots

Dear M,

Everything in writing sounds easier than it actually is. You can talk about a topic and say, this is how it is done. Then you pick up the paper and look at it for hours, writing something, trying to implement what you had just spoken about, strike it out (or type something, delete it out), and this could go on for hours.

I have been obsessed with writing sub-plots. I had a chance to explore the sub-plots in some books I was reading. I haven't been very good with sub-plots though.

Here are some things that I observed.

Sub-plots have many purposes

We know the theme and plot of the novel. So when the protagonist strays too far from the path, we know we're headed out for a sub-plot. Sub-plots either serve to push the main plot forward, or to develop the characters along the way.

Sub-plots could be distracting

Recently I read reviews where a reader complained that the deviation from the path was very distracting and irritating. Many readers (if not most), I have noticed, are impatient to get to the end of it. Taking the longer route isn't for them.


Some sub-plots are very promising

We would just want to go into them and breathe deeply; some sub-plots are exciting and we are sad when they're over.


Will the story work without them?

I think the defining factor will be, will the story remain the same if the sub-plot is removed? Cut out an entire chapter and see if anything is different. If not, it probably is best edited out.


Love.

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Reviews as a learning

Dear M,

I think writing reviews of books is a great idea. When we write a review, we are actually analysing the story, the plot, the characters and their development, the theme, etc. We are also trying to see the author behind the book.

When we find flaws in a book, we immediately know how a good book shouldn't be. When we say the characters are one-dimensional or not rounded, we think about what could have made them better. When we say the editing is not perfect, we know what phrases or words could have been removed or modified. When we say the book is not impeccable, we know what made us say so.

When we say the theme was new, something we have never thought of, we can try to think of such possibilities, of coming up with ideas that are new, original. The approach of the story, the narration, is different. And we all like different.

We wonder what made the author write so; why must she have come up with such a theme? Why did she model her characters thus? Where did she get the plot from?

Whatever makes us think and wonder is a lesson. Even if we don't write a review and put it up online, we could analyse each book as soon as we finish reading. It would be time well spent.

I also like reading book and movie reviews written by others in different blogs, it is good to get others' perspectives. Who knows, some day they might review us!

Love.

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Scrap the old story and start afresh

Dear M,

Remember that story I was telling you about - the one that I had started in earnest, and lost interest after a few days?

Yesterday morning I got up with a fresh perspective to it, removed all the unnecessary parts, changed the POV and finished writing it in about two hours. (Actually, I opened a new document and started writing, only in a couple of places did I go back to refer to the original.) I did not get bored or disillusioned with this version, and I knew this time I had got it right.

I just thought you should know.

Love.

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What Writers could learn from Movies

Dear M,

Some writers believe that watching movies is a waste of time and does not contribute anything to them.

I disagree - probably because I like watching movies. Many of them are senseless and provide nothing more than an enjoyable passage of time, but some have something interesting that we can take back with us. It could be an interesting character that could lead us to improvements in our own characters. Or it could be a plot that inspires us. Most of all what interests me in a movie are two things: one is dialog. The crisp, well-scripted, concise dialogs. One line that says it all. We tend to write long long paragraphs of conversation; sometimes what is needed is a couple of lines.

The second most important thing about films is that they are time-boxed. Ignoring the practice these days of making two movies from a story, usually however huge the book is, the movie would be confined to two hours. Which means, many things would be snipped from the story and only the most essential scenes are taken. And when something is snipped off, any reference to it later will need to be rounded off too.

When we write, we bring in a lot of back story, fluff, side events, unnecessary complications, at the risk of boring the reader. Some of these could be removed. We are the writers, we would find it tough to cut off parts of our own story. But sometimes a merciless snipping is required. Think movies; think time-boxing. What parts of your story could go into a movie and what would be removed?

Love.

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Tying the story with a rope

Dear M,

Some stories are skin deep, some live in flesh and blood. You can almost feel the veins and arteries pushing against you, the nerves telling you tales.

Having recently had the occasion to encounter both one after the other, the difference is so pronounced in my eyes. The first, the skin-deep kind, commonly referred to as "light", "quick read", etc. was funny and a straightforward narration of events without a lot of in-depth analysis about anything. The focus was on the events and the dialogs.

In the case of the second, it was also a straightforward narration of events. But it was fixed to things I know like a floating balloon tied to the ground with a rope. There was always a comparison to something I knew, an analysis, a detail that placed the story where I could sense it. Yes, that is why it was no light read. I had to toil through it, drink as much detail as I wanted to, bask in it, to make sure I was not missing anything.

We all dream of writing something like that, that makes the reader spell-bound. Either we do not try hard enough, or we are too shallow that we cannot produce profound stuff, that we end up with quick-read material. (And then we say, I like reading and writing light-read books that anyone can read and understand; I hate to read books that are award-winning type.) I think if we are ready to put some time in it and some thought into each, we could ground our stories to reality too, tie them up with rope so they do not fly away with the wind.

Love.

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If Memory serves, no notes are needed

Dear M,

It must have happened in 1999-2000. It caused a sensation, as it should. We felt sympathy for the person involved, may be also owing to the fact that we all admired him. It was a traumatic time for him and his family. There wasn't much we could do except hang around and drop a kind word or two at the right places.

I do not know if this incident made me think of inserting it into a story at that time. But I remember sealing up the details in my mind. I remember clearly his reaction, as if it happened yesterday. His tired face that smiled and joked - but we could see that it was tormenting him. I remember every detail, every discussion we had. Something told me that I would use it later. Or maybe that knowledge came a few years hence.

And today I was going through a story I wrote in 2012 and I remembered - yes that part of the story is his. Rewritten and re-moulded and re-created, but it certainly is the incident from a decade ago. I had not taken any notes or jotted them down for future reference. But it stayed - it was a memory, it doesn't have a choice anyway. And it came when it was needed.

That's why I said we don't need to take notes. If it is important enough, if it has to be written about, it will come back. If we take notes and keep them ready for future reference, we may never need them. We may never use them.

Human memory is an amazing place. One could get lost in it, one could find happiness in it, one could drown in it, one could live in it. And a writer could write from it, for it's one well of a place. (Yeah, pun intended and all that.)

Love.

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You Must Write Short Stories

Dear M,

Most fiction writers begin (so I am told) with short stories. For one thing, short stories are small enough to be finished quickly; for another, we can build a story from so little. Zoom into a particular moment and you're done.

However, many writers progress to novels as their confidence grows, and they forget the short story. They are neck deep in the possibilities of the wider canvas. When they finish a novel, they might find time for a short story idea they had. Whether they write it or not is up to them. They could postpone it because a new novel idea has burst into their inner eye.

In R.K.Narayan's words,
The short story affords a writer a welcome diversion from hard work. The novel, whether good or bad, printable or otherwise, involves considerable labour.

I think every fiction writer should attempt the short story very frequently. Without jumping into the writing, giving it much thought and time to build it. The thinking will always happen in the background, even while you are working on the novel. As R.K.Narayan said, sometimes the novel could be too overwhelming. A break could do us good. And then we should plunge into it and finish it in one sitting. Practical difficulties of writing one story in one sitting notwithstanding, the joy it brings when it is done is incomparable. Think of it - you may take months to finish a novel or at least get it into some shape so that you can take a break. And the short story? Is ready in a matter of a few hours. Done and dusted and garnished.

When you go to bed after that effort, there will be a smile on your lips.

Love.

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The Book you don't want to Write

Dear M,

I am reading a book that I am unable to connect with. As in, it is not my story, nor that of people I know. Now, Avatar is not a story about people I know; I cannot relate to anything that happens in Harry Potter's stories, and yet I don't find them as disconnecting as this one. This is more contemporary, more real, and yet it does not quite touch me. I did not stop reading, though. I had to know where it was headed. From what I've seen, it isn't going to any pretty place. Whether it has a destination, remains to be seen. But the book has to end, so there must be something to it, somewhere. Maybe if I dig deep in, I could find it out. Or maybe I will just finish reading it, and sit and wonder for a while.

It was the kind of story I did not want to read much of, except when I wanted to be distracted, and when I did not want anything too profound. It was an attempt at being funny, and yes, in places it was too. There were also traces of philosophy and even parts when I nodded my head in understanding.

The only problem was, it was not my world. And because of it (or not), the jokes do not feel like jokes. Some of it appear arrogant. And even ignorant. Many, many other readers would find that the story strikes a chord with them - just because it was their world, and they know those jokes because they wallow in them daily.

I know what kind of book I don't want to read. It's the kind of book I don't want to write. And yet I am reading it because it inspires me in a different way - it tells me, this is not how you want your book to make the reader feel, so go fix the problems in yours. Try to make it less pretentious, more grounded, more real to you. If there are readers who know your world, they will find it real too.

Love.

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Writing Tools

Dear M,

In writer circles, there is often a recurring talk about writing tools - tools that help you write, that offer word or grammar suggestions, or quickly calculate word count, etc. So many of them. Some even go so far as to give you plot modification ideas, character development tips, hints to get past writer's block, and so forth. And when you hear of each tool, you are tempted to download or purchase those and take a look. I don't deny that these could be interesting and even at times useful, however I believe that none of them can help if the innate talent (and the sharpened skill) isn't good enough. Whatever we have created can be made better or enhanced, perhaps, but the initial creation has to take birth in the human heart!

Agreed that I haven't used any of those writing tools (except the basic stuff offered by MS Word). But somehow the thought does not excite me. If my plot isn't impressive enough, then no tool can fix it, right? If the story were a mathematical problem and the tool could offer a perfect Einsteinian formula to solve it, I would have pounced on it, and no questions asked.

That's the issue with creativity - you could make the most mundane thing look gorgeous with a choice of colours, words or music. There isn't even a right or impeccable way to do it. Three different artists could create three different versions of the same mundane Slice of Life, and all three could be out of this world.

If these tools recommend methods to make your story more attractive, I doubt if it will really be attractive. Would you sleep well knowing that the idea wasn't, in all honesty, yours?

I insist that nothing can match (or excel) inborn creativity - whatever we do would only nurture it, develop it, grow it into a vast tree of... okay, I think I am getting a little carried away now.

Love.

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Reading, Writing and Webpage Ranking

Dear M,

We can learn different things from different books. Our mind is tuned like an antenna towards the right signals. But since we do not know which the right signals are, we receive everything and then we have to process it.

A few thoughts arise from this.

The first is about a novel I am reading. It is almost as though I am learning from a text book. There are so many lessons in it. It is a story, but my antenna is tuned to these literary lessons embedded in it - on character development, show-not-tell, premise, the touch of superstition and fantasy, the convincing narration, plot development. Speaking of plot, I have read up to page 90 of the 500 page book. But I still do not know what the plot is, where the story is headed. The title does not reveal anything, and there is no blurb anywhere. So I am plodding on, hoping that the theme will make its appearance soon. So far I have been introduced to plenty of characters with very vivid descriptions and idiosyncrasies. I do not know which of them are important to the story, and how many will vanish after introduction. Maybe their purpose was just to introduce us to someone else or to set the premise or to move the story forward. But I am not bored yet, and I plan to continue reading until I am either bored or I figure out where all this will end up.

The second thought is that, poor writing influences us as much as good writing does. Our antenna pulls those in too. And unknowingly we imbibe that style. We need to be open to all kinds of writing, because there is a lesson in each - the lesson from poor writing will be that I can write better than this. This is not how it could have been written. I could make these changes and make it look better.

Yet another thought is about Alexa ranking. Surprised? Let me explain. Every blogger is concerned about his/her page rank. Everyone reads up on how to improve their rank. There is something I have read over and over again: if your website is linked to from higher ranking sites, the better are your chances of improving your ranking. If poor sites link to you, it could even cause you harm. I may have put it in a crude way and SEO experts will tell you more about it, but this is the general idea. Apply it to reading. If we read good books, our writing would certainly improve. If we read poorly written, poorly edited, poorly presented books, they would pull our own style down.

If we think about books we have read in our teenage, we would barely remember anything about the writing. We remember the story, a little something about the characters or perhaps only the protagonist, a vague scene of greenery or desert or rocky mountains. But the writing? Character development? Very little or none. As time passed, and we began to try our hand at writing, we became conscious of these, the tools used by other writers.

We're constantly learning.

Love.

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The Face of Writing is Changing

Dear M,

I don't know how many of us have realised it yet - the phase (or face, as the case may be!) of writing is changing right before our eyes.

Think of all the books you have read: almost all of them will have the protagonist searching for information on something or looking for a place or trying to locate a person who had vanished from view or yearning for his/her lover. Imagine writing such a story in the present time, say, a tale set in 2013 - the reader would immediately ask, why didn't the dude Google for information? Why didn't he/she check out the person's online profile? Why didn't he/she call the person's mobile number? Why didn't the detective get in touch with the cell service provider and track the villain's phone? Why didn't they keep an eye on their Facebook or Twitter stream to know their whereabouts? Why didn't they hack into their accounts??

See? All the fun is going from the Quest, the Hunt, the Uncertainty that we love to write about. And fast. A few years ago I read about two lovers being connected through Orkut and sending each other scraps (It was the time when the Orkut craze was setting in the horizon). Another blog I read recently had people finding and messaging each other on Facebook. Then there are hours of conversation on mobile. While there is romance and excitement in it, I miss the old Romance. The longing, the yearning, the uncertainty, the waiting, the missing, the unexpectedness. The same holds for adventures. If good old Indiana Jones could Google for all the information he needed, the movie wouldn't have been half as good (or long).

As long as we don't have cell phone towers or television in outer space, we can probably set our plot out there in the farthest reaches of the Solar System!

(Luckily for us, real villains will be at least one step ahead of technology, so there is still hope.)

So, writers, watch out: Your time is running out. If you want to write old fashioned romance or adventure or a thriller or a mystery novel, better make it quick. Soon there will be nothing left to write about. Everything will be at our fingertips. Your protagonist will sit at home and type or gesture or mouth a word or yawn, and the problems will be solved. Alas - the novel is over in two pages!

Think about it!!

Love.

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Linear stories

Dear M,

As new authors, we are very focussed on our story. We miss a lot of things. As a reader we would find many things to criticise, we find ways to improve the story, but with our own, we become a little myopic. We forget to provide a roundedness to the story.

Most often what happens is that our story becomes too linear. (I have spoken about them when we discussed sub-plots). Our eyes are only on the major plot, the main theme. If we could digress a little and add some colour to the landscape, it would reduce the strain on the reader too. It would not appear too... linear.

I have been experimenting with sub-plots. But the drawback is that, we do not know how much is too much or too little. We do not want the reader to go too far into the sub plot and forget what the main focus was on. I have used sub plots to describe my characters. To develop them. I go into the character's life a bit, whatever is relevant, and a little that is not relevant too, and explore around a bit. So that hopefully the reader would get some picture about them. I have also written in one place about the history of a certain place that is the most important backdrop of my story. It is actually part of the main plot, but the history is not essential. It only adds to the reader's knowledge. But how much of it is too much? Will the reader be yawning or skipping those paragraphs? No idea. I am not bored, I am intrigued, but of course I will be!

One of the first feedback most writers (aspiring authors) receive is to "learn the art of short-story writing, before you venture into novels". Very often it is intended as a sarcastic, negative comment but there could be a real reason behind it too. Short stories are pretty much linear narratives, there is no space to wander too much into sub plots and character developments more than necessary. Once we master it, it becomes easier for us to experiment with developing the sidelines. Any kind of experiment that stretches our imagination or enhances our learning is a good thing!

Love.

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Groundwork

Dear M,

We are all in a hurry to become authors (preferably best-sellers) that we forget we have to write something before we do. And not just anything.

We don't plan prior to writing and plunge right into the story, flowing with the flow. We think our stories are exceptional and never-written-before (or perhaps even a stroke of genius), which is why we keep at them. Somehow we fail to realise that just having a good grasp of the story and a smooth flow in mind do not always mean the story is great, or even good. It could be, but it need not be. Even a spectacular story can be ruined by bad execution.

We need to do a lot of groundwork before we write. If nothing else, it helps to reduce the re-work later. And I speak from experience, so trust me.

I threw myself headlong into my story, not pausing to look up, my only reference being a couple of sheets of paper where I had written down the plot. Even those sheets are preparation, but not enough. I didn't know my characters right, I did not identify or resolve conflicts beforehand, I did not see potential issues (we cannot predict all of them, but we could plan for most), I did not see that the story wasn't convincing enough, I did not see that the parts I stitched together were standing out like unpleasant bulges, I did not realise that readers are more intelligent than me and that they can see through the writing as though there was only a glass partition between us. The result? A lot of rework after the first draft was done.

The truth is that, even with a lot of preparation, those kind of issues can arise, especially when you are new to writing. But with a good amount of homework, you could minimise the post-first-draft rewriting. And over time, when we get better skilled at the art of writing, the first draft itself would be as close to perfection as possible and reworks would be minimal! (A dream to work towards, don't you think?)

Why are we reluctant to do elaborate preparation before beginning the actual writing? Because we are in a hurry to finish our masterpiece novel and these kinds of preparations take up a lot of time - ideally, they could take months. The better the groundwork, the smoother the writing process. So what are involved in the groundwork? Plenty of notes. Paragraphs upon paragraphs on each character's past, present and future. On what kind of people they are. Of where they come from. Etc. Then the flow of the plot. Sub-plots, wherever required. How they wind in and out of each other, and how they unwind (or get more tangled, as the case may be).

This activity helps carve the story in our mind (of course, when it washes off, we have the notes to remind us), so that in each situation that we introduce our characters to, we will know how they are going to behave. Is she going to turn around and scamper at the sight of the ghost, or is she going to faint, or is she going to stand rooted to the spot, or is she going to say, "Oh, get lost, ghost!", or is she going to ask the ghost for directions to the treasure she is seeking? We know how Indiana Jones will behave in each crisis, don't we? Just so. The better we know our protagonist, the more realistic their reactions would be, and the more convincing the story will appear to the reader.

With proper groundwork, we can make the story look casual, as though we aren't trying so hard to make the reader happy. (I've read books that made me feel so.) The story flows at its own pace, introducing characters casually and easily, with no sense of urgency, without the plot tumbling over each other as though they have to catch a flight in an hour. With proper groundwork, we can have different sub-plots that add richness to the story and keep the story from being too linear. In fact, everything becomes better if groundwork is proper.

We don't have to feel that the effort spent on groundwork (the elaborate notes made) will be wasted completely. We could do a lot of copying and pasting from these notes into the story too!

Love.

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Open-ended and closed-ended stories

Dear M,

There are open-ended stories and there are closed-ended stories. (Is that what they are called - closed-ended? Sounds a little weird. Anyway I hope you get the idea.) Open ended stories leave you with a strange feeling, because you do not know what happened, or you wonder did they do this or do that, or you wish to re-read the last part to know what the author meant: did she mean what you think she means? Or you ask yourself, why in the world did the protagonist do that - when he had every reason to act otherwise? It drives you mad - which means the story is a success.

I like open ended stories, and once in a while I am able to write such too. I know it when my friend calls me up and asks, what in the world did you mean? I chuckle and reply that whatever you feel had happened, is what happened. That's the most amazing part of an open ended story. It is left to the reader's imagination. The writer only suggests something, the reader deciphers it as per his experience or knowledge.

However, most of my stories are closed-ended. The sense of closure and the calmness it brings is somehow important to me when I write. Not always, as I said, but most of the time. Even a closed-ended story can be kind of open-ended. The author does explain what has happened and closes all loops, but not the why or even the how. Or she may leave some clues which leave us wondering. The characters in the story think the chapter is closed, but we the readers know there is more to it. I don't know how to explain it, but I know it when I write it, or read it.

Such endings leave us thinking. It goes much beyond the 'what happened', into the much deeper purpose that lies in all our actions and reactions and words and silences, and in our very existence. It is these stories that actually can awaken us and prod us into action.

Love.

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Plot-based and character-based

Dear M,

Some years ago, I lent a book to a girl. I figure I must have been talking long and loud about the books I've been reading, because one day this girl comes up to me and asks with her sweet smile if she could borrow one of them interesting books I was reading. I was taken aback. I was not the kind who lent books. I was the kind who once lent and learnt the hard way that books lent were lost forever. Then I shook my head free and remembered this recent book at the top of my book-rack. She said something about not reading any books and wanting to start that habit and such. I thought this book would do just splendid for her. It was light, simple to read, not too profound or boring, fast-moving, intriguing, all of that in the right amount. Not a kind of book I would recommend to an avid reader except as an airplane read, perhaps. She wasn't going anywhere for a while, so my book was safe. And I said, Sure.

So after a couple of days I gave it to her. During the course of the next few weeks she told me she was enjoying it immensely and she was very grateful etc. etc. Then I heard nothing more. We met each other every day for the next several years but this book quickly slipped out of our memories. Then one day I remembered it and looked all around my book shelf and could not find it. I brushed and dusted my memory and remembered giving it to her. I asked her about it and she said "I think I had returned it to you."

That was that, and my book was lost forever. So much for magnanimity! There are two morals from this story. The first is, obviously, don't donate your books to anyone unless you want to get rid of them (either the books or the people).

The second is that first time readers and those who have no patience to read, would prefer a plot-based story. A plot-based story is generally quick-moving, action packed, and does not linger on the flowers of the season or their fragrance. It tells us who the people are but we do not bother about their character development more than is crucial for the story. We don't want to know of their coming of age unless it is relevant.

I like to read both kinds of stories. Sometimes a plot-based book feels good, just because there are so many things happening that you are gripped by its sheer pace. Or so many intriguing puzzles and mysteries and so much tension that your heart is pounding as though you are the protagonist. Or sometimes you want to read something where it does not matter what each line is, you just want to push through and get to the end. A character-based story generally goes slow, but it too can set our hearts racing. As long as it is not too slow as to become boring and yawn-invoking, and delving too much into the unhappening mind of the protagonist! In a character-based story, there is a significance in every line. You cannot skim through without spending some thought on each. Sometimes you read a sentence twice and you will find a different meaning in it each time.

As far as writing is concerned, I would like to write character based novels. I like to think my characters have power, a solid structure, three-dimensional existence, and that they can connect with people around me. I like to think that the effort I spent on each line brings out some amount of emotion in the reader; that it tugs at his heart.

It is easier said than done, but having a clear goal sure helps.

Love.

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Introducing minor but important characters

Dear M,

Writing a story or a novel isn't easy. It appears to be, but it isn't. The easier it appears, the more difficult it must have been.

A story doesn't come easily to a person. When it appears, it is a thread or a vague idea. Expanding it into a story from that vague nothingness takes skill, patience, energy and a helluva lot of persistence. The author takes days and months to polish it out and polish it out and polish it out until it appears to flow through the pages. Until it appears as though it was written in an hour or so, quickly and effortlessly. Except it isn't.

Just as effortlessly, a talented writer introduces minor characters into the story, introducing them at an early stage, prodding them around gently without drawing too much attention to them, but just enough so that we know they exist, and we are probably curious at their presence, and we may also wonder deep inside as to their significance. In other words, just enough for us to notice them, and just enough for them to capture a corner of our attention. Perfect - until they return with a bang and make the story spin on its axis.

A perfect example is Ben in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca - when you first read the story, you do not even suspect that the "idiot" has any importance at all, except making Mrs.de Winter a little uneasy in her new surroundings. For that matter, everything in Manderley makes her uneasy, so we aren't concerned. You know Ben is harmless because Mr.de Winter says so. Soon you realise that Ben is a little delicate and fragile, you are afraid he might fall and hurt himself. He lets slip a few things that make you sit up and notice. Then comes his crucial appearance where his evidence - or the absence of it - makes everyone's head turn.
A very minor character, who holds the plot in his quivering hands.
A very talented writer, who gently and carefully unveils important parts of the story without the reader noticing that a major unveiling is in progress.

Love.

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Sub plots in a novel

Dear M,

I wish I had known earlier about sub-plots, you know. My first novel would have been a lot better if I had. But I know about it now and I have started noticing sub-plots in many books I read. So I guess it is better late than never.

I think in my novel there are a few sub-plots, appearing like thin veils. But those could have been made to appear much sharper and finer if I had known that these were 'sub-plots', and if I had known how to work on them.

For one thing, without sub-plots, the story sounds very linear. If you are writing a very heavy, action-packed plot-based novel (already running to 500+ pages), then probably there is no space for sub-plots. You do not deviate to tell people about other insignificant things that passed by the highway.

What are sub-plots exactly? They're things that happen on the side, that enrich the main flow of the story. Either it adds a dash of colour to your characters or to your plot, or it takes the reader into an arc, telling him about important events that affected people. In a recent book I read, there had been interlacing of politics of the time (the story was set fifty years into the past). It had nothing to do with the theme or the main plot of the story. But because of the politics, secondary characters changed and this in turn affected the main characters and the way they made their choices. Without the historical intervention, things would have been a lot different. And yet, if you ask, is the history the main theme or plot of the story? The answer is No.

When I began reading about sub-plots, one of the articles I came across was introducing sub-plots to increase word count. That sounds crass, but have you any idea how word-starved some of our stories can be? Our most brilliant idea (in the beginning stages of our novel-writing career) could be expanded to about 50K of words. There are exceptions of course, and I speak from experience. And these 50K words are as straightforward as "The man was dead - the detective came - he spotted a ring near the dead body - the ring was the fiancée's - the fiancée was the killer." Apart from the unpredictability you can offer to your tale, you can also develop things on the side, you can develop the dead man's relation with the fiancée, the fiancée's past or relationships, even the detective's personal problems. Though, strictly these may not be the reasons for the murder.

I don't know if the examples I have given above are any good. I have a feeling they aren't. It is one thing to understand, it is quite another to explain. But I am sure you have understood something, and that is always a good place to start!

As for me, I am going to look for - and inject, if needed - important sub-plots into my stories.

Love.

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