I'd wondered this for a long time, so I'm here to help out anyone who wonders the same thing. A lot of writing books don't have a great explanation of what a subplot is, so I had to watch a whole bunch of Youtube videos to get an answer. I'm giving you that answer in this post.
Wikipedia defines a subplot as: "A secondary strand of the plot that is a supporting side story for any story or the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance. Subplots often involve supporting characters, those besides the protagonist or antagonist.
Subplots are distinguished from the main plot by taking up less of the action, having fewer significant events occur, with less impact on the 'world' of the work, and occurring to less important characters."
What does this mean? Well, let's break it down. First, let's tackle the "supporting side story for the main plot" part. Say your protagonist has to save the world from the dragon army. That's the main plot. Then, along the way, he falls in love with the princess, who is betrothed to the prince of a neighboring kingdom. That's the subplot. It adds meaning and complications to the main plot. Simple, right?
"Subplots often involved supporting characters." In our example, the love interest is a supporting character. And so is the prince of the neighboring kingdom, and his father, and her father. They're all secondary characters, supporting the subplot, which is supporting the main plot, providing extra meaning and complications.
"Subplots take up less of the action, have fewer significant events occur, and have less impact on the fictional world." Whether the princess chooses the hero or her prince, it won't be significant to the war against the dragons. Sure, it will change the protagonist's life, for better or worse, complicating the quest to defeat the dragons, but he's a character. He's not the world. He's just one guy. The fate of the world is much more important than the fate of his romantic subplot.
So, in summary, a subplot is a little mini-plot that boosts your main plot, using supporting characters and problems to add meaning and complications to it.
Does your story need a subplot? That depends. Do you have supporting characters that have problems of their own, problems that could boost the plot? That's for you to decide.
Happy subplotting!
(I apologize for rambling; my brain is absolutely fried.)
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