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By: Allyson Valentine Schrier,
on 2/15/2011
Blog:
StorySleuths
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Touch Blue,
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Hi Heather!
I loved your post on BIG scenes. While I’ve found them challenging to write, I’ve never considered them as something requiring their own special attention. Thanks for the enlightenment!
And speaking of enlightenment, I attended a terrific lecture last week at the Seattle SCBWI monthly lecture series that changed the way I think about subplots. The lecture, titled WHILE THE CENTRAL PLOT SIMMERS: SUBPLOTS AND SECONDARY/SUPPORTING CHARACTERS, was delivered by Wayne Ude, author, and MFA program director for the Whidbey Island Writers Association. Using Pride and Prejudice as his example, Wayne pointed out the ways that subplots complement the main plot, serving as a mirror to the primary action and theme.
Curious to find out more I looked at what Elizabeth George had to say about subplots in her book Write Away: One Novelist’s Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life. Interestingly enough, George also mentions Pride and Prejudice, pointing out that while Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s relationship is the main plot of the novel, the other three significant relationships (Jane and Bingley, Charlotte and Mr. Collins, Lydia and Wickham) are, “winkles on the same blanket.”
George summarizes the use of subplots with these words:
Subplots generally rise out of a novel’s theme. As you create your character analyses, you’ll begin to make connections between characters. You’ll discover the similarities in what they’re going through or have gone through. You’ll see a common element that you wish to write about, and this will be your theme. Your subplots will mirror that theme.
Now to tie this subplot discussion into this month’s featured book, Touch Blue.In an online interview with teenreads Cynthia Lord was asked the questions:What message do you hope readers will take away after they turn the last page of Touch Blue?And Lord replied:Kids today live in all different kinds of families. As Tess says to Aaron, "You can belong in more than one place." I want readers to end Touch Blue with a sense of hope that no matter where you lay your head at night, you always belong to all the people you love and all the people who love you.Belonging and not belonging is a recurrent theme in Lord’s novel. The main plot is Tess’s story. She very much belongs in her tight knit island community, but may lose that connection if her family is forced to move. Aaron’s successful integration into the community is key to Tess achieving her desire—staying put.
0 Comments on SUBPLOTS: Touch Blue (post #2) as of 1/1/1900
For those of you who have not yet finished the 1st draft of your story, keep writing. I encourage you to reach the end. Having written the Climax helps with the work you do here. While you write, follow the steps. One should not interfere with the other but rather compliment each other. (If you haven't started writing and only have an idea for a story, ignore today's prompt and adapt all future suggestions to fit your needs.)
Today is easy. Print out a hard copy of your manuscript. That's it.
As tempting as it is with the manuscript sitting right there in front of you, remember, no reading. Not yet. Let the story sit. Let yourself unplug from the writing side. You are now entering the analytical side.
For those of you who shudder at the thought of structure or run from the concept of plot, I'd like to share Joseph Campbell's words:
"It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life.
Where you stumble, there lies your treasure.
The very cave you are afraid to enter turns out to the the source of what you are looking for. The damned thing in the cave that was so dreaded has become the center."
Plot and structure are the jewels. You'll see. Trust the process.
Yesterday, I referred you HERE for added information about the three most important plot lines in every great story using as examples: The Girl with a Golden Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, The Space Between the Stars by Deborah Santana, click here.
For information about subplots. click here.
**If you're just joining us today, please read the last couple of posts to catch up.
I always disguise the identity of the writer when I unwind here and reflect after a plot consultation. I keep my comments general in hopes of showing how universal most of the plots and the plights I encounter.
In my mind, I already see the writer successful and imagine how notes like these would shed a certain sense of historical perspective when the time of success truly arrives.
Today's consultation was all about subplots and themes.
Every element in a memoir, novel, screenplay contributes to the greater thematic significance of a story.
- Every character functions like a mirror shining back to the protagonist the very elements of themselves they can see in others but not in themselves
- Every subplot does the same thing to the overall plot of the story
- Every word contributes to the theme and mood and nuance
Nothing is extraneous or there simply because the language is beautiful, the action clever, the character quirky. Every element contributes to the deeper meaning of the piece.
Do you know the thematic significance of your story?
Can you condense the overall meaning of your story into one statement?
This Thematic Significance statement reflects the truth of your story. Not the necessarily a universal truth or truth for all time, but true for your story itself.
I recently re-remembered the imperative of being able to sum up a story in one sentence--much the way one should have a one sentence thesis for an essay. I was feeling overwhelmed by the project until I remembered this fact. It instantly trims the focus of the work. It becomes do-able and makes sense.
Amy
Hi The Tenacious Writer,
Terrific!! I find that by hanging the thematic significance statement on my computer, readily in sight at all times, I'm more apt to stay focused. The focus, in turn, decides many of the choices needed to be made along the way....