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- #21
Yes. I have advice for dealing with that as I have a large cast, so been there, done that gotten the t-shirt and the headache. Using a table really helps.Too many subplots can also kill one's motivation.
Example
Character | Alignment | Sub Alignment | What is their goal? | How do they enter the story? | Their Arc Initiation | Their Arc's Climax | Their Arc's Finale | Do they achieve what they want? | Status? |
David | Protagonist | Main | Rescue his Shinx | Chapter 1: Playing with his Shinx | Chapter 3: His Shinx is stolen by Team Rocket | They follow Team Rocket to their base after many trials | They Battle Team Rocket and Win | Yes | Alive, Healthy |
Shinx | Protagonist | Support | Escape Team Rocket | Chapter 1: Playing with David | Chapter 3: They are stolen by Team Rocket | They try to escape inside the base. | They are recaptured by Team Rocket | No | Alive, Captured |
Team Rocket Member: Anna | Antagonist | Main | Become well known in Team Rocket | Chapter 3: Stealing David's Shinx | Chapter 7: They see others getting praise for bigger catches | They take on David's high level team to steal more | They battle David in the Base and lose | Yes | Alive, Defeated |
The characters above all have very simple paths, and on their own they don't make a story, but you can interweave them. While David and Anna are destined to compete for David's arc's completion, it doesn't mean Anna's arc is dependent on David's, but David's arc is dependent on Shinx's arc failing.
Gridding it out can help make sense of things.
(If anyone wants to take the grid above and use it for their own story or even make a story out of the random plot I put on it, go for it, I don't care. That's what it is there for, to help people.)