When you're getting ready to write your novel, it's good to remember three important elements. Every story you read contains the B story, increasingly difficult obstacles, and the dark night of the soul.

Most stories are layered with several storylines happening. Even your classic Christmas stories will have the protagonist learning to love Christmas again, but also the best friends who fall in love, or learning to move on, or learning that your mother has kept a decades-long family secret. The overall plot drives the story forward, but you need to have at least one additional plot. Otherwise it'd be a very short story and could possibly come off as bland without anything else happening.

However, no story is limited to just a plot and a subplot; there can be C, D, and so on stories. Several of these subplots can come from each new character introduced. Every time a new character shows up, there's a potential for a new story in the plot. While your protagonist is after a certain goal (that's the A story), the side characters may have their own lives, their own goals, and their own stories. So you'll have to decide how their lives will factor into the story. Are their goals in the best interests of the protagonist or are they secretly acting against them in a story of betrayal?

For stories set in a historical period, with a possible backdrop of war, the setting will directly factor into the story as either an A or B plot. It doesn't have to be the primary story, but it will affect all the characters in different ways. For example, there could also be two characters on separate sides of the war, a love story, a revolt, and a family struggling to survive in a new world in the same story.

Obstacles form one of the most important elements needed in a story. This was a constant lesson in my writing classes with my professor emphasising that every story needs “increasingly difficult obstacles” in order to create pace and keep it interesting. The protagonist needs a series of obstacles to overcome in order to keep the story moving forward.

In the classic Shakespearean plot of Midsummer Night's Dream and every parody of it, there's a series of characters that are in love with a different character. Character A is in love with B who is in love with C, who is in love with D who loves A, and as more people get involved the situation gets more complicated. A tries to win over B with a sonnet while D is trying to impress A with flowers, while the whole time no one really catches on to anything that's really happening. The obstacles increase while different aspects are added about the characters, and everything gets worse as the story progresses until the end.

While several obstacles are good and it's nice when the protagonist overcomes them, they don't necessarily have to overcome every single obstacle they face. If they don't win out against everything in their way, that will give your character layers while also setting them up for a dark night of the soul.

What is the dark night of the soul?

This is the moment where everything seems to be lost and the protagonist feels like they've failed or have just discovered a heartbreaking betrayal. You know that moment in romantic comedies when the couple has a huge fight that threatens to tear them apart, but then they work everything out before the end? Or the moment where the superhero seems to be losing against the villain? That's the dark night of the soul, tearing down the protagonist right before it springs them forward in the story.

Often it occurs near the end of a book, or film, and takes the protagonist to a very dark place. It's where they feel like they won't be able to succeed and that the world is against them, but eventually they realize that they can win, or that the other person really does love them, so often it all works out for the best. It's a little different in a series as the protagonist will undergo several dark nights of the soul before actually achieving their overall goal, or they'll have several goals that are hindered. However, small wins throughout will help keep your protagonist moving forward, and will keep things from staying too serious all the time.

The dark night of the soul can be anything. It can be as in Peter Pan, when Wendy realizes that her brothers are forgetting home, or in Where the Red Fern Grows where the two dogs die. It's literally anything that brings your character down, but the amount of time spent in this dark place varies and it doesn't have to break your character's heart.

Why is the dark night of the soul important?

It's something that everyone can relate to, because not everything in life goes according to plan. Sometimes people lose and they don't achieve their goals. It doesn't mean they won't end up winning in the end, just that they can't win all the time. It keeps things interesting and keeps the character changing and growing. People want struggle and obstacles in a story, so that they can see how characters handle situations and end up winning in the end. By having a protagonist suffer a dark night of the soul, you're giving them a human quality.