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Subplot Question

Posted: Aug 14, 2013 3:23 pm
by Geoff1975
Write Brothers puts out products that not only work, but are so intuitive.
Okay, I've looked through Outline 4D tutorials and have a question. Can you outline multiple stories in one file? Within a Star Wars Episode 4, can you create a Major story outline, a Han Solo subplot outline, and a third outline... with plans on merging them together later? I'm thinking of Aaron Spelling like series where you have different simultaneous plots.
Also, I like the event duration feature very much. Does it approximate by number of words in dialogue how long the scene might take? There's a news reading program which does this, but of course action timing is very vague. Maybe the writer can modify the dialogue anyway depending on "slow" or "fast" reading.

Re: Subplot Question

Posted: Aug 15, 2013 2:11 pm
by stephenbuck415
> Can you outline multiple stories in one file?

Yes.

Tools > Document Settings > Event Hierarchies.

You can simply create new hierarchies with sub-levels for additional stories.

Re: Subplot Question

Posted: Aug 16, 2013 3:33 am
by stephenbuck415
Here's a screenshot of what I mentioned in the above post.

Subplot Question/When subplots meet/what to do/how?

Posted: Jul 30, 2015 12:18 pm
by adambein
When two subplots/stories/storylines meet, how do you make them meet?
1. Do you make a 3rd subplot? (good in case the two subplots split apart later on)
2. How DO you make it so two subplots/stories/storylines 'meet'?

Example:
Storyline/subplot 1: Bob is riding his motorcycle down the PCH enjoying the ride. Bob has both the sound of the wind and the roar of the motorcycle in his ears.
while simultaneously...
Storyline/subplot 2: Sylvia is returning back from the beach from taking her dog for a walk. The leash breaks. The dog runs onto PCH.

The two stories meet now: Bob sees a dog running out into the street. Sylvia screams. Bob stomps on the brakes, skids, and narrowly avoids missing the dog, but only laying down and damaging his bike. Sylvia runs forward. The dog runs to the safety of it's owner, quickly re-leashes the dog, and rushes over to see how the motorcycle rider is doing. Bob curses, get's up, some girl apologizes to him. Bob looks up-it's Sylvia.

The two have met. Their parallel simultaneous events have resulted in their meeting. Does their storyline become his, hers, or a whole new storyline? While they together have their own storyline, create a new subplot but keep the old subplots-in case the two of them get split up later on in the main story?

Re: Subplot Question

Posted: Aug 04, 2015 4:27 pm
by Chris Huntley
Those don't sound like subplots. They sound likes different scenes. A subplot has a different goal from the main story.

In your example, you have not identified a main story, which you have to have before you can have a substory/subplot. The alternative is that you have parallel running stories that interconnect from time to time.

In Outline 4D, you may create multiple main stories and use the tracks to indicate when characters appear in one, the other, or both.

Re: Subplot Question

Posted: Sep 15, 2015 3:21 pm
by adambein
Ahh. This took me a while to think about. "A subplot has a different goal from the main story." THAT'S the way to differentiate/delineate. Ahhh. Tyvm.