Nesting sub-plots in parentheses: it’s a way to ensure all the plot threads are tied off in the course of the novel. No plot thread should be left unclosed at the end.
It’s an idea Sanderson borrowed from computer programming. You can outline the story in terms of opening each plot thread with a left bracket and closing it with a right bracket. Like a Russian doll, each plot thread fits inside the one before in the overall structure.
How it works
Open each new plot thread within parentheses, starting with the main plot. Then open each of your sub-plots or plot-points. You make sure to close each plot thread, in sequential order, until you finish closing the main plot at the end.
If you miss closing a plot thread, the structure of the story is unbalanced, and potentially open-ended. It’s a loose hanging thread. Readers hate those.
Sounds complicated? Not really. Here’s a simple nested plot structure. We open each thread until we reach the lowest layer of the story, then we close each one until we finish back at the most important.
(Open main plot
(Sub-plot 1 open
(Plot point 1 open
(Sub-plot 2 open
Sub-plot 2 closed)
Plot point Closed)
Sub-plot 1 closed )
Close main plot)
Real World drama
Of course, in the real world, stories rarely pan out this smoothly. Boiler-plate genre romances or crime novels may find this kind of symmetry easier than others. The critical thing is that each thread opened is closed before the end. How and where may be less important. In some stories, some artfully crafted asymmetry may provide some of the entertainment. Authors display their ingenuity in the way they pay down plot threads. Not necessarily in strict sequence, bit always paid off before the end.
In practice
Here’s a look at my current work in progress, Kamsen Knights.
My nested plot threads look like this.
(Yari searches for her father.
(Niemy rescues Yari rescued from ‘bandits’
(Yari engages Risto to break into the archive
(Risto and Yari explore the archive
(Yari meets the General
(Mikailut unmasks House Dovatra
(Yari discovers her talent – midpoint)
Yari confronts house Dovatra)
House Dovatra attacks Yari’s home)
House Dovatra wants revenge)
The general makes a promise)
Archive revelation)
Risto and Yari joined by fate)
Niemy and Yari resist the coup)
Yari makes a decision)
This isn’t a full breakdown of the entire plot, or the roles played by every character, but rather the significant sub-plots and plot-points.
Each thread opens with a left bracket starting at the top. As we work through the plot, we close plot points with a right bracket as they occur, until we reach the close of the main plot at the bottom.
My plot threads don’t close in perfect symmetry, some finish earlier, some later. But they do close. The plot makes sense and there are no lose hanging threads at the end.
Or at least, none now.
The unclosed parenthetical
I completed the second full draft of the story, but something didn’t sit right. Someone went missing. One of my main antagonists ran off-stage after a sticky confrontation – and never came back. I opened a plot thread and left it unclosed. Given this treacherous serpent is driven by malice and spite, I omitted her inevitable revenge. I neglected a necessary closure. She needed to reappear somewhere before the end so I could close the open parentheses.
Now this character isn’t the main antagonist in terms of scale. The big action revolves around a much larger threat. But this secondary antagonist takes things very personally. Her retribution will come when we and the protagonist least expect it. Unless I indulge in some Hollywood plotting…
This antagonist provides the final jump-scare. Here is the extra challenge at the end of act three, when the protagonist believes the danger is past and everyone is safe. Everything is supposed to calm down and settle into the new normal. But here she is; Glen Close at the end of Fatal Attraction, Alex Gudenov at the end of Die Hard.
The original threat that kicked off much of acts One and Two returns. She tests the protagonist in their new state of competence, after the trials and triumphs of Act Three. That’s closure.
With that completed, we can confidently move to the closing revelations and decisions in the final pages.
Usually, I hold on to all the plot threads pretty well. Only at the end of a draft did I stop to consider a hanging thread. I needed to work through the parentheses to spot the lack of a closing right bracket where a left bracket gaped open.
Over the fields and far away
Maybe you never looked at a line of computer code in your life. It isn’t really necessary. You could also think of this method as ‘open the gate: close the gate,’ without which your flock of sheep are away out of sight in the neighbor’s field. Perhaps think of it as layered arguments in a presentation or a debate. Here’s a premise: here’s the conclusion. However you want to visualize it, just remember: open left, close right and no hanging threads.