LOVE, your subplot (write advice)
January 16, 2020 10:08 am Leave your thoughts*SPOILER WARNING. Skip this post if you haven’t read the Red Cowboys excerpt in the back of the first book and are still scratching your head about the future of the Darkrose Novels after King of Spades.
The Darkrose Novels are not in the Romance genre. But there is a cute guy, a an awesome girl and a bunch of circumstance which (so far) has prevented them from working out where they go from here. A romantic subplot in the Darkrose Novels felt necessary because all the characters involved are strong, career-driven and cutthroat. Some others (particularly the civilians) serve as contrast; mild and susceptible to emotion in comparison to the ones MDS has moulded.
But, as Dr Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park says, “life, uh, finds a way.”
There are several human qualities spotlighted in the Darkrose Novels which an interested/analytical reader or a little-too obsessed-English-teacher-wanting-a-boss-essay-from-you could take away from the books. Usually these are things like friendship, courage, the need to do the right thing, the need to uncover truth, ethics and how injustice is the worst, but also how one copes with all of these things to keep moving forward.
Circumstances don’t always define human beings and they don’t necessarily predict how someone will act or a path they’ll choose. Whether this is pre-determined by DNA or evolution or just being “human,” everyone possesses ability to be more than their job or their situation.
One of the human qualities included in the books is the surprising ability for some of the characters to feel emotion for others.
Even though you are busy as shit, trying to adult, get over your past traumas, hustle, train, be a decent person…some (infuriatingly calm, funny, gorgeous, Canadian) guy sashays up and shoves a spoke in your wheels the size of a fucking pool cue…
For Cleo Darkrose, the niggling feeling she could be about to add another complication to her life confuses her enough to eat at sensibility MDS has beaten into her through training, deaths of friends and colleagues and other regular occurrences in her line of work.
The tension/dialogue and arc for she and Trent Starr could not only be a story in its own right somewhere else, (and has been kicked around the office in the way of pre-quels when the series comes to an end,) but has an important role in the series and always adds to the original plot and point of every book they are in. Even if you are like me, patiently sitting through lovely-dovey BS for a few pages to get back to the blood, guts and advanced technology, the “romantic” (or other) subplot isn’t just something these novels would be able to lose and continue unscathed.
Therein lies the the point where some skill is needed if you’re writing similar. If you want a multi-faceted story that does each piece of itself justice, you need to discern what’s important to the overall book and what you can stand to lose or shrink and how you would do that.
If the tension/unrequited/bumbling love story blooming between my lead characters was gone, yes, the story could technically continue but it would lose a lot of its momentum and visceral reactions for a reader. It would also shave off a side to Darkrose’s personality that wouldn’t have satisfactory outlets with the characters left, making it harder for the reader to identify with her to the extent I want them to in order to enjoy the series.
I want you to see this ruthless woman can feel like you do…all fluttery and confused because someone’s screwed up her radar. In Cleo’s case, it’s a lethal hazard…and that only proves the need she feels to ignore or squash it when he’s around.
If your book can forgo the sexual tension or the whole chunk of pages where you’re just trying to establish that your hero has a wife and kids back home, but the reader never gets to know anything else about them, then cut or shrink it if it serves no purpose.
It’s also worth thinking about the fact that if there is a subplot that could be a total book in another genre (if you wanted to make a story out of it,)be careful. We’re discussing “romance” so I’ll stick with that, but it goes for nearly everything I can think of.
Say this prayer aloud with me; Dear Lord, please let me never pick up an adventure story where some other-worldly creatures are living in a fantasy world and journeying to far away lands with mythical creatures and magic wands… then one day I turn the page and there’s a graphic description of a tit because two hobbits are getting DOWN.
Don’t let it get away from you, there’s time to evolve it(!) And with that, you evolve the reader’s understanding and involvement with the character.
Make sure there’s a reason why your male lead is pursuing the girl or why the girl is texting a guy she likes if you’re planning to keep them involved for the duration of your story. Don’t accidentally make it into some erotic thriller that started as an adventure to Mordor because you got bored/horny/distracted.
Your book probably needs a subplot…so do it. But make sure it adds to your art.
TLDR:
*If you’re not writing a Romance or Erotic novel, reign it in, son. There is time to go all out, build your arc so they care about the characters in the situation.
*Make your subplot add to the story because if the book can do without it, you should have already murdered those darlin’s…
*I don’t want to read about anyone’s hobbit penis unexpectedly.