: Re: Is it bad to include subplots that don't push the story forward? I want to add a few chapters that don't push the story forward; they only explore the background and motivations of the characters.

All depends on pacing.

Imagine the main plot needs a lot of slow build-up. You'd bore the reader. So introduce a sub-plot, an alternate layer that tells some backstories - captivating, thrilling backstories. Pepper your main story with episodes of the new thread to carry the reader through slow times.

Alternatively, you can give the reader a breather in case of really rapid action. The team hunkers down under fire and tries to wait out the enemy, they might exchange their stories from home and tell of their personal dramas while bullets whizz over their heads. Still, don't stretch that into whole chapters. Section of such slowdown at most.

OTOH, if you just give a slow, boring backstory, while the main story progresses at moderate pace, really try to keep it to minimum. It frustrates and bores to no end.

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: Think of everything in the story in terms of "actors". Do they appear near enough to be confusable? Do they appear in contexts where one can be confused with the other? In your case

@Dunderdale623

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: This is extremely rare and very difficult to execute smoothly. While switching into present tense when the action picks up is usually fine, it's very difficult to create a smooth transition

@Dunderdale623

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: Are newlines effective for adding weight to certain phrases? Sometimes I'll write something where there's a few paragraphs of buildup, then a "whammy line" or two. I wrote a quick example, pretend

@Dunderdale623

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: What is this 'pretend dialogue' technique called There's a style that is popular on blogs, and takes the form of a dialogue between the reader and the author, where the author provides both

: Re: Is it bad to include subplots that don't push the story forward? I want to add a few chapters that don't push the story forward; they only explore the background and motivations of the characters.

More posts by @Dunderdale623

: Think of everything in the story in terms of "actors". Do they appear near enough to be confusable? Do they appear in contexts where one can be confused with the other? In your case

: This is extremely rare and very difficult to execute smoothly. While switching into present tense when the action picks up is usually fine, it's very difficult to create a smooth transition

: Are newlines effective for adding weight to certain phrases? Sometimes I'll write something where there's a few paragraphs of buildup, then a "whammy line" or two. I wrote a quick example, pretend

: What is this 'pretend dialogue' technique called There's a style that is popular on blogs, and takes the form of a dialogue between the reader and the author, where the author provides both

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