Words I Write Crazy: Chronicles of the Apocalypse: Guest Post

Today I'd like to welcome over Zachcery Richardson, author of Chronicles of the Apocalypse, over for a guest post.

On Subplots: Making, Using, and Loving Them.
Subplots.

Believe it or not, they’re some of my favorite things to write and read. Don’t get me wrong, I love reading plots of action and adventure, of the outnumbered heroes standing up for what’s right against seemingly insurmountable odds.

But what about that innocent family that the hero accidentally drags into the conflict? What about the loner best friend who is so focused on his career that he’s pushing everyone else away? Or what about the father who suddenly reappears after sixteen years and pretends nothing’s wrong? These are some of the subplots I love.

The best subplots are the ones who complement the main one, the ones that explore or highlight the novel’s themes and/or heroes. The main plot of my novel, Chronicles of the Apocalypse: Revenge, Everything is Nothing is an assassin’s quest to simultaneously avenge the murder of his family and prevent the Apocalypse. Sounds exciting, right? I certainly hope so. But as exciting as it is, the novel wouldn’t have been very deep without a subplot. Ironically, the subplot I used was one of the ones I mentioned above. The innocent family the hero accidentally drags into the conflict, and therefore must protect. That subplot allowed me to really explore the heart of my assassin hero, Jin Sakai, and reveal him as a man who deeply cares about atoning for the wrongs he’s committed in the past. In addition to that, it also allows me to further explore to the novel’s themes of revenge and redemption.

And as I said before, that’s what the best subplots do. They add a deeper layer to the novel’s themes, and even offer a test to the hero, to see if he’s truly learned the lessons the main plot was trying to teach him. And that’s how you create them. Once you know what your theme is, ask yourself how you could explore that theme outside of the main plot. Or if you know you want your characters to learn a lesson, ask yourself how you could test them on that lesson in an interesting, meaningful, and/or amusing way. What is the theme/What are the themes? What’s the lesson? How could I explore that? Ask yourself those questions, and you will be well on your way to crafting the best subplots your novel could ask for. J

From Goodreads:
When you sacrifice the lives of your wife and children to prevent the world's most powerful clan of assassins from unleashing the Apocalypse, what does that make you? And what do you do when you learn that it was all in vain? For Jin Sakai, that sacrifice turned him into a mere shell of a man, filled only with guilt and hatred. When he learns that it was a sacrifice made in vain, he instantly sets out on a violent one-man war to tear the assassins' clan down around their ears. After all, who better to destroy them than the man who brought them together?

Things soon turn down a darker path as Jin uncovers the disturbing truth behind his family's sacrifice; a truth he was never meant to learn. Undone by the revelation, Jin is consumed by doubt and confusion and very nearly loses his life. It is only later when he meets Leah Lawson, a woman with a past almost as dark as his own, that his doubt and confusion vanish and he begins to see a path that will not only lead him to his revenge, but to his redemption.

Unfortunately, there is far more going on behind the scenes than Jin realizes. Forces are at play that have been manipulating the course of his life ever since he was born. By setting out on his quest for vengeance, Jin unknowingly cements his destiny as one of the key warriors in the apocalyptic war that’s brewing just beneath the surface.

Bio:
Zachery Richardson, casually Zach, was born in Seattle WA on August 8th, 1989, and was raised in Lake Oswego, OR. It is perhaps the greatest irony of all that his chosen career is that of an author when as a child, his second least favorite subject in school was writing. Math was number one, and their relationship remains strained to this day.

However, the switch was flipped in middle school when his teacher assigned a creative writing project. Having finally been given a productive outlet for his wildly active imagination, Zach dove headfirst into the world of author-dom and never looked back. By his freshman year of high school, he'd completed his first "book"; a 300 page fanfiction set in the Mobile Suit Gundam universe. Afterwards, he turned his attention to a series of wholly original works that would become Chronicles of the Apocalypse in the subsequent year.

While Chronicles of the Apocalypse (or COTA as he likes to call it) remains his central focus, Zach has also begun work on several other projects in the Young Adult and High Fantasy genres.

He currently lives in Wilsonville, OR.

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