Side quests aren’t just for D&D or WOW – in a post on Well-Storied, Kristen Kieffer says that add-on goals or other distractions from your protagonist’s main objective can make for a richer story. “In novels, a side quest is not a single conflict, event, or subplot,” Kieffer explains. “Rather, it’s a sequence of events that takes place within the main storyline, in which the protagonist chases a secondary goal they believe will help them achieve their main story goal.”
As an example, Kieffer cites a scene in The Hunger Games, in which Katniss decides to destroy the food store collected by the most dangerous Tributes. While blowing up groceries isn’t Katniss’ main goal – that would be survival – she believes that weakening the other Tributes will give her better odds of survival.
If you need to increase the difficulty level of your protagonist’s path – or need to add to your word count – introducing side quests can help.
