multiplot!!
By klaudine
@klaudine (3650)
Indonesia
September 4, 2008 8:44pm CST
Have you ever make a multi-plot story? A multiplot story is (CMIIW) a story when there is more than one main characters and more than one story line... With the multiplot, the story would be more interesting and twisted. It wouldn't be boring because there are more than one story line and more than one main characters. We're not gonna be focused only with one constant story but have something else to be given to the reader.
Back to my question. Have you ever write a multiplotted story? How do you do that? Do you think themultiplot story is more interesting and more challenging than the one plotted story? Why do you think so?
1 response
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
6 Sep 08
I have, actually! Usually in a project like that, I'll have one character that I'll use to introduce most of the rest of the story.
Typically, stories like this I'll call, "Bigger picture" plots...that is, plots that aren't really about certain characters, though they do often tell their stories. They all are a part of the bigger picture, the plot behind the plots, heh.
Even in stories where there's only one main character, I'll usually have one or two other additional mini-plots, or overarching plots that tie into his or her...or it's story, heh.
More challenging? Definitely. Why? Because it requires so much more work, thought, and details.
1 person likes this
@klaudine (3650)
• Indonesia
6 Sep 08
So they are stories inside a story, right? If you have so many details would you make some notes about those details so you wouldn't mess up with another plot or what? And with so many plot how do you decite the timeline of the story?
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
6 Sep 08
I use my usual methods -- which you'll read about in your other post in my answering your other question. Often with these things though, I do tend to write down more notes since it does require more details. Normally I'll edit something a few times to make sure I don't mess it up, and do a double-take on my notes.
When I'm making several plots, I will usually start with one...but once I get to the point where the others tie into it...or there's circumstances which require me to work out all of the plots from the beginning, I'll make them so that while they -can- stand alone, but that they work with eachother as harmoniously as possible.
The thing about these types of stories is, the timelines are even more flexible than character-oriented plots. Since they have more than one timeline involved, this means I can use even more ideas to work out the timeline -- this helps me avoid cliches.
My thing tends to be supernatural dramas (which is a genre I made up lol), so this means I can use time-travel, different dimensions, planets, realities...to hammer out the order of events. It allows for more happy accidents when I write.
1 person likes this
@klaudine (3650)
• Indonesia
6 Sep 08
But how to relate the timeline to the plot if the story is not the supernatural drama (but the genre's name is good enough), while those plots should be related each other harmoniously and you have to avoid the messed up timeline that would make the readers confused? For example if you wrote a multi-plotted detective story... you have to make a precise timeline, right?
