Welcome to Pencils&Lipstick! This week we are answering some questions I get as well as talking about subplot characters.
Check out Lisa Cron’s Wired for Story and Story Genius. Also John Truby’s The Anatomy of Story. And Save the Cat.
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TRANSCRIPTION STARTS HERE:
Kat
Hello, everyone. How are you doing? Welcome to Episode 180 of the Pencils & Lipstick Podcast. I’m Kat Caldwell. And today we have a bit of a shorter episode for you. We are going to talk about subplot characters, something that I hadn’t thought much about, and perhaps you haven’t either. So we’re going to talk about them and talk about their role in your story. Not every single story has a subplot character, but if you like writing subplots, you might want to stick around and listen to what I found out from one of my favorite writing mentors, John Truby. And I had read his book before and I went back and was perusing through it and it stuck out to me. And I thought, wow, if I don’t know about that, perhaps you don’t either. Or maybe I’m the only one. I don’t know. Hope you guys are doing well. Next week we’ll be back with interviews with Lisa Shaunessy, and then Evan Gao is going to come in and talk to us about the new things going on over at StoryOriginApp pretty soon as well. There are some really exciting things over there, and I thought instead of me trying to describe them to you, we’d have the expert himself come on. Plus it’s been almost two years since he’s been on the show, which is insane. I should bring people on more often.
Kat
Now, if you guys have somebody that you want to hear on the show, let me know. You can tweet me @PencilsLipsick on Twitter. You can pretty much find me all the time over on Instagram, @KatCaldwell.Author or @PencilsandLipstick all spelled out. Let me know who you want on the show. I have a couple of different people in the works, we’ll see. They haven’t yet scheduled, so I don’t like saying anything until they schedule, but anyway.
Kat
So it’s Episode 180. We are going into May. We are fully in May and life is trucking along, it’s unbelievable. I have sent out Bended Loyalty to more beta readers. I have listened to some beta readers and I have decided to make a little tweak at the end. So, there you go. Sometimes you accept the critiques and sometimes you’re like, No, I don’t want to do that. So this time I did decide that they were correct, and I needed to tweak something. So I’m actually happier with the ending, now. I’ve had a couple of questions come at me through social media and my newsletter, so I thought that I would answer them here. First, pertaining to author newsletters. So the other day, somebody asked me why they needed an author newsletter. And I feel like I talk about this all the time. Mastering Author Newsletters was Episode 178, I believe, not even that long ago. Do you guys like two weeks ago. So I encourage you to go and check that one out. It was in April 2023. So why do you need an author newsletter? It’s because it’s your platform. It is where you can speak closest to others, to your fan base. And it actually really helps you find your fan base. The more emails I send out, the more things that I offer to both my writers and my readers because I have two different lists, the more I understand them and what they want, and the more they understand me and what I’m able to give them. So we can’t get everything we want from everyone, right? So Coca Cola does try to be everything to everyone, but that’s not us. We are not going to sell water and Coke and whatever else they sell. At the same time, we are going to sell our books and that’s probably it. Possibly some author services, possibly nonfiction or two. I sell journals. I really believe in journaling. I believe everyone has a story to tell, whether they want to publish it or not. I think that journaling is very therapeutic and so I created journals for people. You can find them over at KatCaldwell.com/shop. I also write books and I don’t write the same genre, so just to make it harder for myself. So I have to find people who are willing to read across genres. That is what I’m selling to my writers. I am just selling knowledge, just knowledge and storytelling. And I can do that through my author newsletter much better.
Kat
So as some of you might know, I hope you guys have heard somehow, if you haven’t, you should sign up for my newsletter because I tell it all the time. But the Write With Us online writing retreat is happening next week as of this podcast going out, May 16th and 17th, 2023. It is a 9 AM to 5:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, that is New York City Time. Two-day event. There are seven workshops. There are ready sprint breaks in between. There is time to talk to the guest authors who are teaching, ask questions, hang out and meet people. There are going to be giveaways. All of the guest authors are teaching something new to us. And so that’s going to be exciting. I’m really excited to come in and hear what they’re teaching because we can always get better at it. So I have reached the masses, as I say, through my newsletter. And every single person who has signed up so far has come through either my newsletter or one of my guest author newsletters. So that is none of them have come through social media, and I have pushed it on social media. So sign ups have come through the newsletter. I guess I could say one sign up, technically, she asked me questions on social media, so we’ll give Instagram that. Instagram got us one sign up. So that’s just how it is. If I were to run ads for it, perhaps next year I will. This is just the first year. I might see a difference, right? But we’re talking about organic growth. We’re talking about free, as in free on the money, not on the time. So your newsletter is important. You will find your base sooner and you will understand them quicker.
Kat
The next question that I’m going to answer, and this will be the last question for this week, and maybe we’ll do some more next week, is what book should I read to learn more about writing? This is a really hard question to answer because there are lots of really good books out there. So a lot of people like Save the Cat. I’ve never read Save the Cat. Of all the books I’ve read, I haven’t read Save the Cat. And I think it’s good. I think people who I admire have good recommendations. The Three Act Method by J. Thorne is good as well. Here’s the thing, there isn’t one book that is going to give you all the information. So there are lots of good books out there, and I am not even an affiliate for any of these books. But if you are going to start somewhere, and if you have never studied storytelling, I would start with Lisa Cron, and Wired for Story. Yes, Wired for Story, Lisa Cron, C-R-O-N. I would start there because that way, then you’re going to understand the three act structure. Because if you don’t understand storytelling, then there’s no reason to dive into plotting something that you don’t understand. I also think that… I’m trying to look at it now. The Science of Storytelling is an amazing book, and it’s by Will Storr, S-T-O-R-R. That’s an amazing book to tell you why certain stories in certain books have done better than others. And it really has to do with how our brains are structured, it’s amazing. So you have to understand storytelling to understand how to then structure a story. So Lisa Cron also has Story Genius, and that is a great one. That is the hands-on way to structure story according to Lisa Cron. And then I’m going to say John Truby’s The Anatomy of Story. As you can tell, I have lots and lots of tabs in here, and there should probably be more because I went back and I constantly… There’s also several bookmarks. I must have lost my tabs at some point. John Truby, I think, is a genius at story structure and especially commercial story structure. So I think his other one is called The Anatomy of Genre. So that one’s also good to understand your genre even better. He has some courses as well. So I don’t think that there’s a book. I think there’s just a place to start. So that is my recommendation. Start with understanding storytelling. And I hadn’t thought of that until Sasha Black said that she was reading the science of storytelling, and I thought that sounded like a great title. So I listened to it on audiobook, and that was really when I started to understand that I was missing a piece of the understanding the storytelling, not just how do I write a book? That’s a very mechanical answer. It’s I want my story to be that story that sticks with people. And that’s my goal. So if that’s not your goal, then maybe start with Save the Cat, that’s fine. That’s just my answer because somebody asked me.
Kat
So I want to talk to you guys today about subplot. But before I get into that, I want you to know that as this podcast goes out, it is May 8th, we are one week away from the Write With Us online writing retreat. So this is the last week for you to sign up. When the podcast comes out next week, I won’t even tell you because you’d have 24 hours to do it. And a lot of you tend to listen on Saturday. Yes, I have the data on it. So this is the last week for you to sign up. You can sign up at KatCaldwell.com/wwu2023. Now, when I wrote it out, it didn’t sound like such a tongue twister. It doesn’t look like one. It does sound like a tongue twister. So Write With Us 2023, KatCaldwell.com/wwu2023. It’s only $127. There are seven workshops. They’re all brand new. You’re going to have time to write. I think this is going to be an amazing, amazing workshop. It is a great way also for you guys to get to know these amazing authors who also offer guest writing services. A lot of them are coaches. Stacy is a developmental editor. Tracee teaches locally as well. And she has an amazing author life fix book and workbook coming out. We’re going to talk about that as well at the workshop. Lewis, Emma, and Beth are all book coaches. So you are going to find a great way, not only have a great workshop, but it gives you the ability to see if you want more from us, from any of us. And you don’t have to choose all of us. You can choose one of us. Nobody’s feelings are going to be hurt. But I think it’s a great way to see how they teach, see how they interact with people. If you’re looking for a book coach or somebody that can give you a little bit more, almost everyone has a book or courses. You can see them face to face. You can ask some questions about their courses, about what they offer. It’s just going to be a really great place. We are going to all be in Zoom, but we will also stream it live to a private Facebook group. So if you’re more comfortable on Facebook, you can watch it there and ask questions there as well. And I’ll be monitoring and bringing up the questions for every guest author who’s teaching. You’re also going to get access to all the recordings. So I know that sometimes I want to go back and rewatch what they taught me. Maybe I understood it, but a week later I’m like, what were they saying? And I want to go back and watch. And I also know that some people, depending on where you are in the world, depending on your life and work circumstances, won’t be able to show up to every single one of them. So if we are going to record them, they are going to be held in my ThriveCartLearn, which is like Teachable, and you will have access to them for life. You can go back as many times as you want. And this is the only time that they are all going to be bundled together for you guys. Those who come in and teach, they will have their recording and they are going to be… It’s theirs. They can resell it, cut it up, do whatever they want with it. But you’re going to have to then purchase them individually if they decide to do that. So this is the only time that you can get them all together. Seven workshops all together, plus just the interaction with other writers up close and personal, it’s going to be awesome. It’s going to be awesome, guys. I can’t stress it enough how excited I am to learn, honestly, from other people and to see what they’re doing and meet all of you all who are writing books. It’s just great. I’m very excited about it. So down below there is a link, KatCaldwell.com/wwu2023. I will try not to make that difficult next time.
Kat
All right, so today I want to talk to you a little bit about subplot characters because this is something, as I said, I hadn’t really thought of. And I’m getting this more or less from John Truby, because he’s a master at storytelling, especially commercial storytelling. And he’s the one that introduced it to me. So it’s all on John Truby. Hopefully, someday he will come on the podcast. He’s just like, I have him up on a pedestal. So subplot character. Subplot character is not your side character. We all love our side characters. They’re awesome. They all have a little reason for being there. And we can talk about that sometime. But a subplot character is the main character of your subplot, like your parallel plot. Maybe you call it your secondary plot. Again, not every story has a subplot, and then therefore they don’t have a subplot character. But I realized that Bended Love has a subplot. And I was like, oh, my gosh, I did not realize this. It’s weird how you’re going to write a story and not understand things. Bended Love is about Scarlett and about her learning to fight for herself, fight for her right to live in this life and claim her space. And the only one she learns to fight for herself, does she learn to fight for what she thinks is right for her nephew. Then there’s the love story between her and Tristen. But the subplot of the story is, Tristen is still in the story and he’s still dealing with this woman who’s coming after him for child support, for a child that he says is not his. So the subplot, he is fighting for what is right, what is the right thing to do in this case of this child in the world. And Scarlett is also fighting for what is right to do for this child in the world, who happens to be her nephew. They’re also fighting for where their place is in the world. And so this is why I figured out that it’s a subplot. They both have the same goal, the same desire in this world. They want a place in this world. Now, Tristen, at this point is a little more definitive in that. And Scarlett is going to rediscover her true desire in this world. She’s been hovering, just getting by, doing okay. And then she’s really going to claim her place. And so the subplot character is a character that is supposed to want the same thing as your main character, but they go about it in a different way. And what it’s supposed to do is highlight the strengths and the flaws of your main character. Because really, what I’ve learned also from John Truby is that everything is supposed to point to your main character. We are not just writing a story of this person, of these things that happen to them. That’s not actually our goal in storytelling. Our storytelling is supposed to take a person and prove to the world that there are circumstances that will force them to change, even a little. That is the goal of storytelling. If there is no change, there is no real story. And I pause there because there are moments in which there can be purposefully no change. And that’s usually called a dark story because it’s basically the main character chooses to stay in their dark hole, I mean, John Trudy calls it slavery, their poor view of the world. They choose to wallow in this hopelessness that they aren’t going to change, nothing’s going to change. The world will go on. And that’s those movies. A lot of times they’re French, believe it, or Spanish. Man, they can be super dark over in Europe. The camera just pulls away and you’re just left with this, really? You went through all that and you’re not even going to change? You’re just going to stay where you are? Yeah. It’s a dark, heavy ending to a story, which it can happen. It can be very powerful and very effective, and it can really convince the audience to want to not be like that. So there are times where you’re purposely not letting them change. But what I’m saying is don’t have things happen to a character with no idea of what you’re doing. The majority of the stories need to change. If you’re purposely not letting them change, that’s one thing, because you’re making a statement. You need to know what that statement is. So your subplot character is supposed to lift up your main character and show them that there’s a different way to do things. So whatever that is, whether your main character is a super control freak and they are trying to control the pieces to the chess game that is life, and they are trying to make sure everything lands perfectly, and and when finding a partner, a life mate. And then the subplot character is really learning to let go and let the chess pieces fall as they may, as they look for love in life. So you really want to be able to compare and contrast these two characters to highlight things. And it doesn’t have to be that evident that they’re doing it. In Hamlet, what are their names in Hamlet? So in Hamlet, he dies. There’s purposeful murder, and then there’s accidental murder. Hamlet’s trying to kill the guy who killed his father. And then yeah, Laertes, I haven’t noted. I don’t know how to say that. Laertes, he accidentally kills the man who killed his father. They both want revenge, and there was a different way to go about it. Got the same result. And then the consequences of that afterwards. The other one that, let me see, that does this is the Philadelphia Story. That’s right. The Philadelphia Story. See, I love old movies, and so I’ve seen old movies. And so I don’t mind it when John Truby uses an example of an old movie, but I’m not sure everyone else has seen it. If you haven’t seen the Philadelphia Story with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, you should really see it. But Katharine Hepburn plays Tracy. And then there’s this photographer who’s trying to pass herself off as a family friend, but she’s a photographer for a tabloid magazine, comes in. They both want love. They’re 1940s women, so they both want love and they want stability and they want that man. And Tracy is this rich woman who’s trying to keep up appearances and make sure everybody thinks of her well. And Liz is like, well, that’s not me. She’s just herself, and she is comfortable with herself. And then she’s sickly, bubbly, love with her coworker, Jimmy Stewart, who reminds me of my grandpa. And she just lets him go and lets him find his own way. She doesn’t pursue him, even though you can see that she’s pining after him. So they’re very different women. They’re actually going after the same thing. And I had never thought of it before on how that subplot character is really highlighting something in the main character. And that’s done psychologically, right?
Kat
So when I say that if you want to really understand storytelling, to start with the science of storytelling or Lisa Cron’s Wired for Story or John Truby’s books, they’re more in-depth, but they’re really trying to teach you what story is in order for you to be able to have the elements that create a story that really stick with people. So your subplot character. Go back and see if your subplot character is lifting up your main character. And I think this is actually very liberating to understand that the subplot character and the main character need to have the same desire because you don’t have to make up an entirely other story that’s paralleling and smushing into this book. This is something that I wish I had known for Coffee Stains, where I could more purposefully parallel the two stories. Instead, I just have two stories in the same book, which is lots of things happen in life. And so that was my reasoning for that. But when you’re writing a story, you really want to bring the audience’s attention to the main character and their change or lack thereof. And so when you use that subplot, you don’t have to go looking for something else in order for them to really push into the forefront the main character in the audience’s eyes. So I thought that that was a really cool thing to learn and to understand better. I think it’s very liberating that your subplot doesn’t have to be a completely different storyline. It needs to be along the same storyline, not as big. It doesn’t need to be big. If you watch the Philadelphia Story, Liz play role in the story as well, it’s just that her goal, her desire, and the relationship she has with Jimmy Stewart is this paralleling the relationship that the woman, Katharine Hepburn’s character is having with her ex husband and husband. So you see, it doesn’t have to be huge. It can be subtle, but it’s purposeful, and it works really well.
Kat
So that is Subplot Characters, and that is our show for today. Be sure to share this episode with people that you know and anyone who you know is a writer, tell them about the Write With Us online writing retreat. I hope to see you there. We will probably have another one in the fall, but it will be geared probably more towards nonfiction or towards the marketing of your book. There’s so many things to learn with writing, but we’ll have another one in 2024 as well, but it will be different. So I think you should get in. Go to KatCaldwell.com/wwu2023. Let everyone know about the podcast as well. We’ll come back with an interview next week. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast app or at YouTube.com. We are over there as Pencils Lipstick Podcast. Yes, and give us a review. It’s been a while since anybody’s given us a review. We got to keep those reviews up all the time. Oh, my gosh. So I will see you guys next week with Lisa Shaunessy.