When You Like the B Plot Better

A lot of the reviews for my last book Act of Persuasion were only so-so, which I’m not going to lie is disappointing. You invest yourself in the characters and I really thought Ben and Anna, a couple I carried over from a previous book, were very special.

But I do concede that Ben was a very restrained very tight character and in many ways so was Anna. So you really don’t get to see all their vulnerability until the end of the story when they both basically lose it.

However, with almost every bad review the one thing that did stand out was that everyone really liked Mark’s story as he reunited with his estranged daughter. It will be interesting to see if people who liked Mark will still like him as he takes center stage in For The First Time which comes out in October. When people ask me about this book, they ask are we going to get Mark’s story and I tell them you’re really going to get Mark and Sophie’s story. Because this isn’t just a story about him and finding love. It’s really a story about Mark and Sophie and their journey of building a relationship and then finding the person that fits both of them.

Now in that story, and peripherally in AOP, I introduce Greg. I’m working on Greg’s story now and it’s probably the most suspenseful, the most plot driven of the Tyler Group series. But here is my problem. More than half way through and I find once again I’m really digging the B plot.

I shouldn’t be more excited to get to those scenes with the B couple then I am about writing the scenes for Greg and Liza who are the hero and heroine of the story.

At first I figured it was just because I was messing up Greg and Liza and knew I would need to go back and fix them. But honestly I think it’s because the B story is just easier. It’s not as intense as the main relationship. I don’t have to support the whole book around them. I just get to write a few lines of banter and emotion and then I’m done.

Then it’s back to the A plot and all the hard work of making good.

What about you? What happens when you like the B plot better? Does it mean you failed the A plot?