Building Plot Complexity

For most readers, a satisfying plot is a fairly complex one. A single, relatively linear plot can be mildly entertaining, but usually not very memorable or satisfying. A story with not only twists and turns, but with sidetracks and subplots that all seem to somehow tie in, even loosely, give readers a much richer, deeper experience, one that stays with them long after putting your book down. I think back to some of my favorites: Holes by Louis Sachar, Dune by Frank Herbert, Pulp Fiction, if I may slip in a cinematic rather than literary reference. These stories left me immensely satisfying and wanting more.

But how do you mix things up in your plot, complicate it, turn it from an engaging yarn to a whole damn afghan? Well, as with most things, start with your character. There are three things you should always ask each of your major – and some of your minor – characters:

• What do you want? This is the individual character’s driving motivation, the reason they are engaged in your story and why they stay engaged in it.
• What do you need in order to get what you want? This can be quite similar to, or even the same as, the previous answer – I want my daughter to survive cancer. I need to find a cure for cancer. – but not always, sometimes the two can be mutually exclusive – I want to sleep with my student. I need to stay faithful to my wife and stay out of jail.
• What are your obstacles? What are the things that you need to overcome to get what you want/need/both?

It is that last one that we get to play with to complicate the plot. Here are more questions to consider:

• Other characters as obstacles: How do the wants/needs of other characters clash with the wants/needs of this character? What are the ways they can come into conflict, causing tension and drama? Who must lose so that this character can win? How will the efforts of other characters to overcome their own obstacles cause more obstacles for this character?
• Stacked obstacles: Sometimes attempts to overcome an obstacle can reveal more obstacles. For example, I want to accept a once in a lifetime induction into the Grand Ol’ Opry, and to do that I need to get my guitar back from the bookie to whom I owe money. Do I steal it back, or run the “errands” he wants me to run to clear the debt? If I steal it, not being a thief myself, whom can I hire to help me? Can they be trusted? If not, how do I gain leverage on them to force their confidentiality? If I run the errands, what keeps the bookie from just stringing me along with more errands forever? On and on and on…
• My own shortcomings: I want to explore a relationship with my estranged daughter, and to do that I need to impress her mother that I’ve changed my ways, but I’m only four-months sober and there are so many triggers that make me thirsty – heartache, disappointment, frustration, anger, etc. My boss is trying to force me to quit so he can hire his nephew to do my job, my current girl is bothering me to get married, and the doctor just informed me that I may just have quit drinking too late to save my liver.

I could go on, but I want to make another point before this article gets too long. Plot complexity can be done badly, too. Some of they ways it can sour:

• Too complex: Keep a wary eye on how you tangle your plot threads that they not get so tangled the reader has trouble following them.
• Too vague: Be sure your threads are starkly defined, clear and well laid. Pitfalls here are lack of clarity as to character motives and needs, two or more character motives that are too similar and not distinct enough to each specific character, a loss of tension because the readers begin to lose their connection to the character and his motives – this is remedied by the occasional reminder of what’s at stake for him/her, etc.
• Loose threads: These are plot threads that don’t get resolved by the end of the story, I hate this and so do most readers. Be sure to tie these off, and in the right sequence so as not to dilute the impact of the resolution of the primary plot. With this are also lost threads – neglecting or completely forgetting about a plot thread somewhere back in your story. This can leave the reader feeling as if certain story elements were random and arbitrary and added merely as filler.

These are just the headlines, the highlights if you will, of a deeper, more detailed discussion on how to build plot complexities. But I hope they inspire you to continue to think along these lines and to explore other ways to build a fulsome, complex, satisfying tapestry of plot threads to draw your readers in and make your books ones that sticks with them long after they’ve finished reading. Who could ask for more?