Admittedly, I write short. My three full-length novels were a real strain to write. With the first one, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing ~ I just wanted to find out if I could accomplish that feat. I had a weird idea about the MC magically taking on her grandmother's persona, then her own mother's. So, essentially, the novel was three women's stories. Those aren't subplots, in the technical sense. And even then, reaching 80,000 words was a heavy lift.
My second, even worse novel, also didn't have a subplot, but it had a LOT of back story. An embarrassing amount of back story. But back story hardly equals "subplot".
I wrote a third novel that was better, which was a low bar, but it, too, did not have a subplot, per se. The Cambridge Dictionary defines subplot as a part of a story of a book or play that develops separately from the main story. I suppose I could describe the MC's online scam career as a subplot, if I was being generous. But I view it as all part of the main, because it ties in with the primary plot. The scam isn't a story in itself; instead it serves to explain why she doesn't want to be questioned by police about an unrelated crime.
What I'm really asking about is a good novel with no subplot, one that follows the MC for 80,000 words or so on one specific journey or goal, with no off-topic meandering. Can that be done? I guess it can ~ a crime novel, for example, or perhaps a mystery. In my genre, I think the answer is no. There just isn't enough to work with. That's why novellas were such a revelation to me. I could focus on the main story and not try to invent something off-focus simply for padding. My plots tend to go like this: MC embarks on something, complications ensue, then at last all is resolved. That's it. I don't have to write about her gambling-addicted brother's problems or her boss's search for a wife.
If I could actually write a one-plot novel, I might even be willing to undertake that.
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