Adding Specifics

You can start to fill in the missing details you need for a subplot, using the same method my ninth-grade history teacher used to teach. He gave us a huge topic, and then he asked us to boil it down to the most simplistic questions: 

• Who?

• What?

• When?

• Where?

• Why?

• How?

Sometimes, simple is powerful. But don’t feel like you need to answer them in this order. Start with what you already know. That way, you can identify what you still need to figure out. 

Who?

We answered this in the Targets and Touchstones sections:

• Lena

• General Searcaster

• The Director

In a character-driven subplot, this is often one of the easiest to figure out: you’re looking for the character the subplot is focused on and those she grows with.

Why? 

We answered this in “The Handless Maiden” section. 

To grow into the fullest expression of herself, Lena needs to claim her power and responsibility, which includes her inventions, by not giving her authority away to the Director’s rules or anything else. 

The why is actually one of the most important of these simple questions. It’s much like your overall target. You are walking your whole manuscript towards this end, by looking for ways to reach your chosen why in every single scene. 

By knowing the why, i.e. the answer that will bring Lena towards a fuller version of herself, you will steer towards the most helpful answers to the remaining questions. You are looking for the answer that brings Lena to the growth in her character arc: reclaimed power over her inventions rather than deferring to others’ rules.

When and Where?

In general, you look for a way to weave in the new subplot into scenes that already exist in the larger plot. Since I’d already envisioned the overall story, some of this was already determined—well before I figured out Lena’s subplot. For example, like many other middle grade fantasy adventures, I’d already planned a big final battle between my main characters and all the bad guys. That would obviously be when and where Lena would have her final confrontation with General Searcaster. It’s the built-in climax of the whole series and therefore the climax for Lena’s character arc.

How?

This depends on the what, when, and where, and each scene answers it differently. Again, how can be answered when you are steering into the why. 

But first, I needed something more to work with. I needed a what.

What?

This hadn’t yet been answered. The what could be anything, and sometimes, that possibility can be overwhelming. But because the what was the most fluid, that meant it also had the most potential to bring deeper meaning to the story.