User blog:Zathronas/Author's Advice: Convergence

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Hello and welcome to author's advice on vacation. Brought to you directly from a hotel room in Limerick  town in Ireland.

Convergence. In the setting of writing a story, it means to bring all your plots toward the same goal. Be it your main plot or any sub plot you create. You need to have goals for each of them. Each one has to be furthering your story or it makes absolutely no sense to add them. But what are the goals of a plot. I'll talk about the main plot on my next blog. Let's concentrate on the sub plots and how to converge it to a same goal.

The main plot is the backbone of your story, everything else you write is meant to support it.

Sub plots fit in one of four categories.

Character presentation

Short sub plots designed to present a new character at its best ot at its worst. It can be part of a bigger plot that fall into another category but this small plot is mostly intent on showcasing characters

Character developement

Sub plot that can be long or short meant to have the characters grow. Often, it is an obstacle they need to pass that will give them a different insight.

Information development

Plot meant to give information. Either to characters or to the readers. Those plot usually give answers to questions asked previously in the story.

Main plot development

Sub-plot meant to further the main plot towards it climax. It is not meant to resolve but to advance.

Usually a sub plot will be in more than one category. That's good as it shortens your story and makes you get to the point faster. Let's take a Ruby example.

Blake and the white fang

In which category would you put it?

I would put it in character development and information development... for now. Once we know more we might add another category.

If you have a sub plot that you cannot define where it goes, discard it. Because the only reason you would add it is to make your story longer and that is not worth it. Especially since you can usually change it for a new one that fits one of the categories.

Believe it or not, I'm going to give you homework! Take either the story you are writing or the last one you did and try and place all your sub plot into the four categories I've given you! The more categories it fits into, the more relevant the plot. If you find one that doesn't fit any categories. Think how would your story be like without it.

Next time on author's advice on vacation... the main plot.