synecdochic: Writing meta Q&A, round two, part two - Now, the problem is, there's really no hard-and-fast rule -- at least none that I've found -- about how to stagger your various plots and subplots. Some people say that the best thing to do is to have the traditional five-part structure with the emotional plot and the A-plot, and then have the B-plot and C-plot overlapping, so that (for instance) the rising action of the C-plot is starting just as you're hitting the climax and falling action of the C-plot, so that the peaks are staggered. -