Flashback photo from when even the animals were chill, circa early 2000's.
A comment that I had made earlier in the month on a blog post about secondary characters got me to thinking about how I was able to successfully pull off the mammoth complexity on what seemed to be on the surface, a basic plot: husband is kidnapped. Wife and ex-wife go play fetch.
Simple, direct, home-grown and has the hallmarks of a pedestrian story. But what if I told you that out of that basic premise, I managed to weave over one dozen plots that involved more than an equal number of characters, all of whom had one singular target in play: the husband.
Granted, the most plot lines that I managed to write for a given novel/novella was three (my recent novella has three plot lines), and I certainly didn't plan on having to deal with so many plot lines within a given story. But after the dust had officially settled in 2025, I have to say that I am very pleased to say that pulling off such a mammoth complexity as this was a worthy feather in my cap (and a headache for a future post) that I would like to share with everyone.
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1} For starters, we have the original plot line that begat nearly one dozen other plot lines: husband is kidnapped and his wife and his ex play fetch. From here, we have our second plot: ex-wife is connected physically/mentally/spiritually with her ex, and now that connection is broken. So she wants to retrieve him in order to restore that connection and become healthy once again.
2} Our third plot line is as follows: the wife has a betrayal by those who she thought were family (non-blood) and that betrayal revolves around her husband.
3} Our fourth plot line that revolves around this husband involves the mercenary who was hired to perform the kidnapping, with the person who hired her being plot four point five, because both plot lines are tied at the hip.
4} Our fifth plot line plus the additional half, involves a powerful person from the ex-wife's past. He wants to help her achieve her goal, but knows he can't directly help her, but can indirectly. The additional part of this plot involves two others whose main objective is to help retrieve the husband so that they may achieve their goal of freedom.
Presently at this juncture, we have five main plot lines along with two sub-plot lines, all of which center around the husband. Let us now continue.
5} Our sixth plot line revolves around the half plot point from number four, as this person was the actual catalyst for the original plot point. Do not fear though, as this plot point has an additional plot point that involves a recently added member of her retinue.
6} Out of the next three plot points, two of them indirectly involve the husband, while the third involves catalyst from point four and point six and the added member of point six. Our seventh plot point involves the wife who indirectly caused the death of her sentient; our eighth plot point involves the ex-wife from point two, who kills the close family member from point four, with the half plot point involving the reincarnation of that particular member. our ninth plot point involves the added member from point six who takes a traitor in their midst.
7} Our tenth and final plot point involves two people who were caught on a camping trip and turned into edibles. However, they were given the opportunity to earn their lives back by performing a task for the mercenary, and if you'd guessed it was something to deal with the husband, you would be correct. The half plot point is that one of them becomes an involuntary host to a sentient who has a week to prove their worthiness or else.
In conclusion: out of ten official plot points, we have one sub plot point doubling as a full plot point, three sub plot points and one plot point that has no ties to the husband whatsoever. Fifteen plot/sub-plot points spread among eighteen characters, with only one plot point not connected to the husband in any way, shape or form.
I don't know about you, but I personally find it impressive that I had fourteen plot/sub-plot points tied to one person and managed to properly resolve every single one that was tied to the husband to everyone's satisfaction. Even though I don't think this is something that I'll be able to repeat anytime soon, I genuinely believe this has made me grow quite a bit as a writer, because it's showed me that with a little patience, I can handle up to triple the previous amount of plot points that revolve around one person.
I think I have a better understanding of what it takes to create a complex book series, especially one based in the fantasy genre, and why it can take multiple years to finish the series.
Here's to a happy Monday and stress free first week of the official Christmas shopping season.
