Crazy Stupid Love: Balancing Multiple Story Lines

Almost every reader has been there before: You pick up a fresh book, ready to jump into a brand new world, and are immediately greeted by twelve different main characters. Sometimes they all live in the same neighborhood, but other times they all live in separate countries and each tell a different story from their perspective. Either way, it is often difficult to keep track of everyone’s names, relationships, and characteristics, making you almost start to wish the writer would just focus on one or two. 

As writers, this experience can be really hard to avoid, especially with a vast, sprawling cast and a world so rich it should be explored by multiple plotlines and perspectives. So how can we keep our readers from getting confused? Do certain perspectives just need to be cut? How can we balance a multitude of storylines, without certain characters getting lost in the chaos?

A rom-com from 2011 just might have the answer. 

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Newly-divorced, middle-aged Cal Weaver finds himself coping with heart-break by confiding in strangers at the bar. Luckily, another man named Jacob overhears him, and, surprisingly enough, offers to help. He convinces Cal that the only way to get his wife back is to completely flip his life around and become more like Jacob: Rich, stylish, and undeniably flirtatious. So Jacob gives him a makeover, shows him how to pick up women, and, soon enough, Cal is out of his mid-life crisis and living as freely as any twenty-something year old.

On the other hand, Jacob is dealing with problems in his own romantic ventures. He used to be content to effortlessly flirt with every girl in sight, but ever since a sassy lawyer named Hannah blatantly rejected him a few weeks back, he’s been frustrated by her. Once he gets to know her, however, he learns that there is much more to relationships than just surface-level attraction, and learns to have deep, meaningful connections with  others. 

Meanwhile, Cal’s thirteen year old son is in love with his babysitter. He knows it seems ridiculous, especially since this girl is in love with someone else, but he’s a firm believer in the idea of true, lasting relationships, and is completely convinced that this seventeen year old is his soulmate. I mean, his parents are soulmates, right? Of course true love has to work out for everyone. 

These three main story lines show dating and different perceptions of love across multiple generations and world-views. While I can’t endorse all of its content, it definitely made for one of the most interesting, complex, and hilarious rom-coms to date. But how did the writers pull this off? How did they balance all of these story-lines without losing the viewer along the way?

Well, first off, they made sure all of these storylines were tied down. There wasn’t a single character or scene that wasn’t connected to each other, the main theme, or the plot, in some way. Below are three ways you can weave everything together seamlessly, just like this movie did: 

1. Show Different Facets of Your Theme

We’ve talked about how to handle complex themes before on the Story Fortress, but this movie specifically created a character or situation that would flesh out each aspect of their theme. Each story line in Crazy, Stupid, Love shows a different aspect of dating. There is a quiet old couple who’s unhappy because they want more excitement, and an excited young couple who are looking to settle down. This movie shows a young boy who has a crush on someone much older than him, and a girl who has a crush on someone way older than her. Even when the wackiest of antics go down, everything points back to the main theme of romance. 

If you’re juggling multiple storylines, take a step back and consider which ones are adding something to your main theme, and which ones are not. Certain comedy relief characters or side-kicks may be cool, but if they’re not demonstrating an area of your theme in some way, cut them. Your story will be much stronger because of it.

2. Make the Characters Related

 In this film, each of the characters are connected in some way. The inciting incident begins when Cal befriends Jacob. Cal is, of course, the father of his son, and is in charge of hiring the babysitter. I won’t spoil the whole plot for you, but many other connections are revealed throughout the story as well, making it a very believable movie. 

Most of the time, writers try to pull in strangers from four different corners of the earth and act like it’s natural for them to form a team and get along. Or, even worse, their stories are all completely different and have zero interaction between each other, which can often make the reader confused, especially when they’re just starting out the story. Instead, try to make some of your characters related. Have them be close friends, siblings, or even cousins. Tie all of these story lines together by giving them family ties. 

3. Provide At Least One Point of Intersection

Eventually, all of the separate plot lines in Crazy, Stupid, Love come to a head in one large, hilarious scene. All of the characters are gathered into one backyard and forced to face the consequences of their actions. This not only creates an entertaining climax, but also gives satisfaction to the viewer to see all of these stories become one. 

Give your audience a similar payoff. Don’t just keep them guessing as to how all of these people will connect. Let the plot eventually lead into one, overarching story to limit confusion and maximize the impact of your story. 

Balancing multiple plotlines and perspectives is not only doable, it can also make for some of the most nuanced storytelling. Allowing your readers to explore your multi-faceted theme through a host of different perspectives gives you the unique opportunity to flesh out your thoughts and values in new ways that add plenty of layers to your story.

Let us know:

What stories have you noticed use these techniques to keep their plotlines cohesive?