 Hello, hello, writers. I'm Kristen Kiefer, author of fantasy fiction and creative writing resources. And you are listening to the Well-Sturried podcast, where I share insights, encouragement, and actionable advice designed to help you craft sensational novels and build your best writing life. Always in 30 minutes or less, so you can get back to writing, of course. Ready for the show? Let's get talking. Hello and happy October, writers. Once again, I am your host, Kristen Kiefer, and today is Monday, October 4th, 2021. Today, we are tackling a bit of a more unique and interesting topic here on the, I almost called it the blog, the podcast. We are going to talk about how to craft complex plots by introducing side quests. So, like I said, bit of a different topic here today, but I think it's a fun one that you will really enjoy, especially if you often have trouble crafting full-length books. So without any further ado, if you would like to read along as you listen into today's episode, you can find the episode transcript, the original article on the blog, at well-sturried.com slash plotting. And with all of that said, let's dive in. While some writers struggle to restrain their novels to a standard length, always brimming with ideas for new conflicts and scenarios their characters might encounter, this isn't necessarily the case for every writer. In fact, it's not uncommon for novelists to struggle to write full-length books. Sure, they might know what events will occur at their story's major beats, such as the midpoint, the inciting incident, and the climactic sequence. But what about all those little scenes in between? How can novelists fill the gap in their stories without writing filler and fluff? One strategy is to give your characters a side quest. Not familiar with the term? In video game lingo, a side quest is an objective that is a goal separate from the main storyline that players aren't required to accomplish to finish the game. However, completing side quests can be a great way for players to explore the story world, develop important skills, and glean key gameplay tips and information, among other purposes. From a developer standpoint, including side quests not only extends the length of the game, a side quest can also help complicate the plot and further immerse players in the story. And as it happens, novelists can achieve these same ends by including side quests in their own storytelling. How do side quests manifest in fiction? In novels, a side quest is not a single conflict, event, or even a subplot. Rather, it's a sequence of events that takes place within the main storyline in which the protagonist chases a secondary goal they believe will help them achieve their main story goal. In many ways, a side quest is a story within a story. It has a strong beginning, middle, and end, a core conflict, and a climactic sequence, among other potential story elements. A prime example of a side quest can be found in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This episode includes detailed spoilers for The Hunger Games, so if by chance you haven't seen or read it yet and you would like to, then maybe press pause, go read it, go read the book, and then come back and start the episode over again. Okay, so in the book, Katniss has one primary story goal, to survive the games. She is motivated by the need to return home to care for her family, especially her younger sister, Prim. The source of the core conflict in the novel is the reality that only one competitor can survive the games, meaning dozens of other condenders, called tributes, would love to see Katniss dead. Before the story's midpoint, Katniss largely reacts to the story's core conflict. She allows herself to be primped and presented before the capital, she does very little to make friends or allies during training, and once in the arena, she runs and hides rather than seeking to kill her competitors. However, everything changes at the story's midpoint when Katniss attempts to hide from a group of career tributes in a tree. Upon finding her, the careers determine to wait Katniss out, knowing that she can't stay up there forever. Fortunately, a young tribute named Rue helps Katniss escape, and having made an ally in Rue, Katniss' first side quest begins. Together, Katniss and Rue realize that their ability to hunt and forage offers no advantage in the games because the career tributes have a cache of food. Thus, they decide to take proactive action by destroying the career's food supply, and this becomes Katniss' secondary goal. So, let's break this side quest down. Core Conflict Katniss and Rue want to destroy the career's food supply, but could be caught and killed in the process. Beginning Katniss and Rue spend a day sharing information and devising a plan to destroy the career's food supply. To enact their plan, Katniss hides in the brush outside the career's camp, while Rue lights several fires in the distance. As planned, the careers leave camp to scope out the fires. Middle Realizing that the supply cache is likely surrounded by landmines, Katniss topples a bag of apples with an arrow. The apples trigger the landmines, and the whole supply cache explodes. Injured in the blast, Katniss hides nearby until her hearing and strength return. When she's well enough to walk, Katniss travels to the rendezvous point that she established with Rue. Unfortunately, Rue isn't there. After waiting for several hours, Katniss searches for Rue, finding her in the moment that one of the career tributes kills her. And now for the end. Katniss kills the tribute, then sings to Rue as she dies. After surrounding Rue with flowers, Katniss leaves the area to avoid capture. Soon, she receives a gift from the people in Rue's district, a loaf of bread. This gift is both fitting and thematic, giving Katniss's secondary goal of destroying the career's food supply. See how a side quest can play out in fiction? Katniss didn't need to destroy the career's food supply to achieve her main goal of winning the Hunger Games. She could have simply continued to hide from the careers and forage food with Rue, hoping the careers would kill one another first. However, Katniss and Rue believed that achieving this secondary goal would help them gain an advantage over the careers, ultimately furthering their mission in the games. And it did, at least for Katniss. This sequence of events takes place over four chapters, but introducing this side quest didn't just allow Suzanne Collins to expand the length of her story. By talking with Rue, Katniss cleans key information about the games, the arena, and her supplies. Collins also utilizes Rue to expand her story world. Rue shares many stories about District 11 with Katniss as they bond in the wake of the midpoint event. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Rue serves as a mirror for Prim. Rue's death raises the story's stakes by reminding Katniss that it's not just her life at stake. If Katniss doesn't win the games and return home to District 12, then Prim will likely die of starvation. Exploring various types of side quests. Can you see how introducing a side quest can be a powerful way to both expand the length of your book and deepen Rue's immersion in the story? In the Hunger Games, Katniss and Rue embark on a destruction-based mission. However, a side quest could also see your characters collect important items, pursue and capture or kill an enemy, rescue another character from captivity, protect a character, object, or a stronghold from danger, sneak through a dangerous area to deliver an item, evade enemies and or escape a dangerous situation, achieve a particular task to gain reward, or compete against another character to gain reward. While these missions might sound exclusive to violent high-stake stories, that doesn't have to be the case. In Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert, Chloe and Red go on a camping trip to fulfill one of the items on Chloe's Get a Life list. This sequence lasts several chapters and helps Chloe gain the reward of facing her fears and living a little. Note that Hibbert didn't necessarily need to include the camping trip in the story. Yes, Chloe's goal is to complete her bucket list, which includes camping, but Chloe's list largely consists of risky bag girl type activities that she thinks will finally make her life interesting. Ultimately, what Chloe needs to lead a happier life isn't to complete her bucket list. It's to take a risk on the things that matter most in life, such as opening her heart to love. The camping trip sequence helps support this end goal by allowing Chloe to realize the depth of Red's kindness and offering them both an opportunity to get to know one another more intimately. How Side Quests Interact with Story Structure While you can implement a side quest at any point in your story, it's worth noting that both of these examples occur in the second half of the character's respective journey. This makes sense given that a story's midpoint often prompts a pivotal shift in the protagonist's mindset. When working within the three-act story structure, which you can learn more about at well-storied.com-blog-structure, a protagonist is largely reactive during the first half of the story's rising action. Notice that I mentioned this reactive state earlier when describing Katniss' story. The midpoint event acts as a fulcrum, tipping the protagonist into full awareness of the story's stakes and thus into a more motivated and proactive state. For example, you see this in the Hunger Games. Katniss barely escapes the career tributes with her life during the story's midpoint, and this near-death experience reminds Katniss that if she doesn't start fighting back, she'll inevitably be hunted and killed, thus the quest to destroy the career's food supply. In Get a Life, Chloe Brown, the midpoint occurs when Chloe and Red attempt to cross drunken night out off of Chloe's Get a Life list. Before the night is through, both Chloe and Red acknowledge that there's something electric between them, prompting both to actively pursue their budding romance on the camping trip and beyond. All that said, it's not uncommon for a protagonist to be given a side quest in the early chapters of their story. In The Fellowship of the Ring, for example, Gandalf tasks Frodo with taking the ring to Rivendell. Frodo accepts this quest but remains largely reactionary, allowing Aragorn to lead the way. The midpoint occurs when Frodo is stabbed on Weathertop and realizes just how dangerous the quest can be. He assumes responsibility for the ring at the Council of Elrond, thus taking up his main story goal, and ultimately chooses to abandon The Fellowship to keep his friends safe. Regardless of where a side quest occurs, there's no denying that this type of sequence can expand a book's length by complicating the plot. In Doing So, a side quest also holds the power to deepen a story's characters and story world, ultimately making for a more immersive reading experience. If you're struggling to fill the gaps between your story's major beats, then consider introducing a side quest to your story, ASAP. Before we go today, writer, I want to ask you a question. Are you tired of struggling to craft the page-turning novel of your dreams? If so, then it's time to grab The Pre-Write Project, an actionable and insightful PDF workbook designed to guide you through the process of developing sensational stories step-by-step. Each section contains lessons and activities that break down the seven stages of the pre-writing process, so you can draft your novel with confidence, clarity, and ease. If you're listening to this episode of the podcast recently after its release, then you might know that I just released the third edition of The Pre-Write Project. I am so proud to put this new version of the workbook out there into the world. I originally created this workbook back in 2015, six years ago, and it's had a few iterations since, but it really needed a major overhaul and update to kind of bring it into, I want to say, the 21st century. It's always been around in the 21st century, but to bring it up to speed with what has lately been my quality of production here at Well-Storied, and I am so proud of the version that I have created for you. It also includes at least three, maybe four new activities that have never before been seen in The Pre-Write Project, never before been included. So even if you have a previous version, I think you will really enjoy this updated one. So if you would like to check out The Pre-Write Project and consider grabbing your copy today, then simply visit well-storied.com slash pre-write. Sound like a plan writer? Now here's to crafting well-structured stories that we can be proud to share with the world. Thank you for listening to today's episode of The Podcast Writer. I hope you found it helpful to your writing journey. If so, make sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss a new episode, and to give the podcast a quick rating or review. Doing so goes a long way toward helping the podcast reach new writers and lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm creating. You can also give me a shout out directly on Instagram at christen underscore keeper. For additional guidance as you work to craft sensational novels and build your best writing life, be sure to head on over to www.well-storied.com where I share blog posts, workbooks, e-courses, and other helpful resources for writers. Again, that's W-E-L-L-S-T-O-R-I-E-D dot com. Thank you again for tuning into today's episode, my friend. Until next time, happy writing!