You may have the idea that you somehow have to choose between writing a plot-oriented novel and a character-oriented novel, and that one has to come at the expense of the other. I’m here to tell you why you don’t worry about these categories. It’s a completely false choice.
UPDATED 5/30/19
There’s no such thing as “character” or “plot” novels
Writers love to divide themselves into warring camps of competing ideals, and you can hear the tremendous outpouring of snootiness when this happens.
“Oh, I write character-based novels. I like my readers to actually get to know a real character instead of stuff just blowing up.”
“Oh, I write genre fiction, and I do so proudly. Stuff actually, ya know, happens in my books.”
See what these fictional people did? They separated themselves into “character” writers and “plot” writers. Annnnnd they’re both wrong. Plot and character are inseparable.
Here’s why.
Character is revealed through the plot
Let’s first look at what makes a compelling character. Here are some examples:
- A character starts off seeming normal, but the events that follow reveal abilities and/or personality traits they never knew they had (Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, Anastasia Steele, et al.).
- A character battles internal demons, which places them at odds with their surroundings (Holden Caulfield, Hamlet, Quentin Compson, Anastasia Steele, et al.).
- A relatively normal person observes a crazy world around them (Ishmael, Nick Carraway, Arthur Dent, Anastasia Steele, et al.).
There are many more, and sometimes these different character archetypes are mixed up and combined. But what do they have in common? Stuff happens to them. They do stuff. Things get complicated. And at the heart of every compelling character who has walked the pages of a novel is one thing: conflict.
Or rather, three things: conflict, more conflict, and still more conflict.
How is that most-interesting character’s personality revealed? Through the plot! What good is an interesting character if they aren’t doing anything and if interesting things aren’t happening to them?
Characters make the plot interesting and vice versa
Character is what makes the plot interesting, because we’re learning more about the character based on how they react to the events. The plot tests a character and forces them to make choices, and the plot needs a compelling character for us to care about it.
If the character isn’t a different person at the end of the story than the beginning, well, that’s not very interesting.
Plot needs character. Character needs plot. They’re two sides of the same coin. Focus on developing them both in tandem, and don’t neglect one at the expense of the other.
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Art: Italian Comedians by Antoine Watteau
LOL. Another great post, both humorous and informative.
Hey, wanna write my book for me?! I may be able to work something out with Costa Rica…
I feel smarter after reading this post.
So do antagonists (vs. protagonists) fit into these archetypes too, do you think? Or do they follow a different set of rules? I think I’ve read a few books where the antagonist was more interesting than the MC.
Man, you really hit your stride here, Nathan. Your latest posts have been excellent. Stay in the zone!
This is a terrific articulation of what a few commenters were commenting about in the previous posts’ comments.
My one quibble is that your example of an uninteresting character involved paying taxes. Maybe the IRS should look into your records because the only way you could think paying taxes doesn’t involve conflict is if you’ve never paid them.
Seriously, “different side of the same coin” is the key here. Plot, character, conflict–they all are important ingredients. That’s what I meant when I said I don’t begin writing without knowing that I have a decent plot ahead of me (which may change as I go but which is at least somewhat put together). You can’t have a decent plot without understanding the characters and their motivations and the conflict.
So…character plus conflict equals plot. Got it.
Must be the one gallon of coffee I consumed today. 🙂
There has been some discussion of this over at Query Shark. Miss Shark complains about queries that are simply “a list of events, not a plot.” There is a difference, although sometimes it is hard to make sure your query contains the latter, not the former.
my comment leans more toward wolfs post. Not that you can’t contradict me in any way that you wish nathan :). I think that its possible for stories to have multiple plots. Not just one for the so called main character but for the villian(s) as well. They are their own characters in the story as well, whether the author wants you to love then or hate them.
They too have the ability to grow and develop in the same way that the MC or good guy does.
Take Terry goodkind (fantasy) for example. His books thrives off of villianous characters that each has there own internal struggle. Different events in the story happen that thus affect them and change who they are. The biggist being a woman by the name of Nicci (not the MC). Goodkind flawlesly injects her own story in the the book (hence a differnt plot) and she goes from being the bad guy to a good guy. The change that nathan speaks about.
I think too that its possible that one really good plot can affect both the pro and the antagonist in the same way. We all have to remember that people can both see the same thing happen but interpret it in their own way, thus effecting them differently.
And if we like one more than another…its how we as individuals interpret something..at least we like something or someone in the book right!
pjd: You can’t have a decent plot without understanding the characters and their motivations and the conflict.
Well said.
Not to make this all, y’know, deep and elitist, but in some ways the whole plot/character discussion is Aristotelian; it requires believing — at least temporarily — that they’re two distinct phenomena.
Interestingly (or not :), I can conceive of a book in which a character does absolutely nothing. (Nicholson Baker’s early novels were kinda like that.) But I cannot think of a book with a plot but no characters. Which makes me kind of think it’s all about the people first.
Hmm. Time for a poll!
Whew! Thank God all my plots are derivative. To think people out there are risking everything with untested plotlines. Preposterous!
Great post, Nathan. Thanks for breaking this down for us.
I usually come up with a situation first–a propelling event in some world. Then I people the event. Then I plot it. It wasn’t always this way for me, but it’s how I do it now via character scripts and synopses. I’ve learned never to start a story or book without knowing the end.
But generally, especially as a spec-fic writer, I try to rest my stories on the three-legged stool of character, plot, and setting.
Good post, Nathan.
I balked a little at your two sides of the coin analogy. I prefer Stephen King’s concept that plot is the character’s footprints in the snow.
I first find a character and they develop the plot. Doing it the other way around is like when you read that so and so was considered for a particular movie part. My usual response is, “But X IS that character. There’s no way so and so could ever have filled those shoes.”
The point being that having an exiting plot with twists, turns and surprises isn’t worth much without the great actor to fill the lead role.
Give me characters and the rest will take care of itself.
You could have made a brilliant English teacher Nathan. Seriously, you’ve laid it all out better then the folks I had in high school (er…three almost four years ago).
I CAN’T believe you chickened out! I figured you were swamped with the Monday morning query rush or something. Those folks that query you over the weekend and leave you drinking the ‘every man’ drink, and chomping spicy Thai. Chin up, the worrying was all for nothing, it was a brilliant post. I hope the Guatemala’s leader’s are prepared to offer you a vacation home.
Maybe – for folks who google your name and don’t read on a daily basis – you should add this to THE ESSENTIALS?
Just a thought.
I’d like to just chip in with a further reading recommendation: Anyone who’s interested in how the interweaving of character, plot, conflict, desire, counter-desire, protagonist, anatgonist – all that good why-didn’t-I-see-that-before stuff – could do a lot worse than read STORY by Robert McKee. It’s a great break down of how storytelling works. It’s not about rules or restrictions, but rather mechanics. Even if you think it’s all over-intellectualised bumph, it’s still an enlightening and thought-provoking read.
I’ve been sitting here thinking about this and how I come up with ideas.
Suspense novel spun off the lines, “A child is born into this world with only two fears, loud noises and a fear of falling. Children of abuse quickly learn every other fear.” That got me to thinking about how this child would react to things as an adult. Toss in a news story about killing horses and voila, suspense novel. It had to start with an interesting character, though.
I think all of my stories start with an intriguing person and then disaster strikes. They aren’t very interesting without the disaster, so I agree with Nathan. It’s very much a partnership.
Stuart, I’m going to add that book to my wish list. That’s the third time I’ve heard about it recently, so I’m taking that as a sign.
This is my problem. My characters knock on the door, there is no answer, so they walk away.
What (help me here) is the basic problem of a teenager?
Too much energy?
so how do they solve that?
or Individuation?
and how do they solve that?
Nathan, it was worth the wait. You’ve put it very well. This is one I’ll want to print and stick in my notebook for frequent nibbling.
It sometimes is SO hard to keep making the character choose and act, rather than be chosen and acted upon, but I do believe therein lies the diff between novelular (how’s that for weird coinage?) indifference or success.
Thanks, and try some chocolate with that coffee.
I printed the last post and I’m printing this one, too.
Thank you for sharing, Nathan.
Ben Bova in his THE CRAFT OF WRITING SCIENCE FICTION THAT SELLS says much the same thing.
The most important thing Bova explains is how character and plot interact with each other, and how character creates plot. (Plot as a characterization device.) He believes that the writer must examine her character and find his one glaring weakness and attack it through plot.
The protagonist should have a complex set of emotional problems where two opposing feelings are struggling with each other–Emotion A vs. Emotion B. (guilt vs. duty, pride vs. obedience, fear vs. responsibility, etc.)
This conflict should exist on many levels. In other words, the character’s emotional struggle should be mirrored in the action of the novel.
In STAR WARS, for example, Han Solo’s cynical selfishness wars with his unselfish love for idealistic Luke. Han’s ready to leave with his loot when the Alliance attacks the Death Star, but risks everything to save Luke. That emotional conflict is mirrored in the struggle between the two political factions as well as in the thematic two sides of the movie–the good and dark sides of the Force.
Bova’s ideas have proven useful to me, not only in creating my novels, but also as an aid when I’m stuck during a novel. When I can’t decide where I’m going or have terminal writer’s block, I reexamine my main characters’ Emotion A vs. B and realize where I’ve made a plot error so I’m able to start again in the right direction.
I go into considerably more detail about this method in my article on creating a novel with index cards.
https://marilynnbyerly.com/marilynnbyerly/page9a.html
Thanks for both plot posts Nathan – you rock!
Stephanie
Does Holden Caulfield really change (or do I need to go back and reread the book?)
Primarily it’s about what the characters believe about themselves and the world.
These beliefs are what they act upon (can’t help themselves).
Their actions result in change, both for themselves and for their world.
So — I always start with character, and if events (the world) take a turn for the worse, what matters is how the characters react and what they do. I’ve tried laying masterplan plots over characters like some sort of grid, but it’s never worked. The justifiably unexpected plot twists become opportunities for potential readers to cry out in despair, “No! No! He/she wouldn’t do that!”
Couldn’t agree more. Personally I always start with character – but crucially they are always at a dramatic point in their lives. I think it was Stephen King who said during the first draft you are telling yourself the story. The second draft is all about taking out everything that is not the story – making the plot clearer, the characters better defined.
Kate, I’m with you — being a pantser I *love* how the characters tell *me* the story. My theory is that the responses are more natural as they encounter the events. My ‘fear’ is that if I plan it too tightly, the effect will be stilted, unnatural, artificial.
BUT there must be characters, human or otherwise, some sensient being to feel and act, plus events that elicit those feelings and actions, either in the world or with other people in the world. Flaws help.
Fantastic, Nathan! You just proved you are a great agent… One of these days, you’ll be publishing a book for writers.
Excellent post Nathan.
I believe the character and the plot are more than inseparable. I was going to say the are almost one and the same, but that’s just not true. However they should be treated by the author as one and the same.
One character will react to the plot differently to another character, based on that character’s abilities and beliefs. It’s how they react that make them interesting.
If the character is quirky and nothing happens, then they have nothing to be quirky about, but give them something big to react to, and you have a whole lot of quirkiness all over your page. That makes for interesting reading.
Although, we all have our different methods, and each writer will achieve their ends via their own path, let’s not forget that our characters live in the plot – the plot is their world.
Thank you. I had heard this advice somewhere before, but your most helped remind me and refresh my memory on what is important in a character.
Great post! I actually felt the need to post on this topic myself at my blog. bethanyhensel.blogspot.com.
Good job, Nathan. If we ever do another interview together, I know exactly what kind of questions I’ll ask you! 😉
Bethany
bethanyhensel.blogspot.com
A Blog Celebrating Arts and Entertainment
I’m one of those people who tends to come up with characters first, and while I do plot and plot and plot to figure out the character’s journey and keep them from just standing there, I’ve been having trouble doing that with one of the upcoming stories I want to write.
And most importantly, the plot changes the character along the way. Every compelling character starts in one place and ends up in a different place, and how they get from point A and point B is the plot.
Thanks for this! This has totally just inspired me–I had a point A and point B for this character, and knew her internal conflicts, but this simple statement has just helped me figure out some of the stuff that’s going to happen between the opening and closing of the door. Amazing.
Great post and I hope you don’t mind me linking to this on my own blog at http://www.nymeria87.wordpress.com
Anyway, I guess it should be pretty self-evident that character and plot are inseparable, just like you said you need some kind of conflict and some way for it to unfold. I’m thinking that most of us – myself included – who prefer the character-based approach in writing, rather unconsciously develop character and plot together without even noticing it. After all it goes hand in hand and plot is what makes a compelling character and the other way ’round.
Thanks again for another excellent definition post 😀
Or, as Henry James put it – with uncharacteristic succinctness – ‘Character is plot’.
Ha! I’m late to the party, but I came prepared with a great Henry James quote. I read all the way through the comments to make sure I wasn’t being redundant, and the very last post had it! Well, it’s a good quote, and I’ve got the actual lines, so I’ll post it anyway. From “The Art of Fiction”:
“What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?”
It’s sort of like, “You are what you eat,” but for fiction, “You are are what you do.”
Sorry, anon! I prefer your fuller version, though.
Sam
Nathan,
This is where I get a anxious and want to snack on little blue pills. I can answer yes to everything you brought up as far as character and plot development but getting someone to crack it open to find out is the difficult part. Granted, I’ve only waited one week since sending out queries but I guess it’s because I keep telling myself that if the query was good enough, I would have heard it by now. This is not meant to say that I don’t realize how busy agents are, because I can only imagine. It speaks more to my patience and insecurities. I guess my question is, when do I start worrying? Will I at least hear ‘you suck?’ (if I do?) Have you ever passed up a weak query and found out later that the book was great? (Ok, three questions)
I don't mean to say you're not a fantastic agent and you do give wonderful insight into the whole publishing process, but MAN! your posts on the craft of writing…FANTASTIC! Thanks for all your hard work Nathan.
Great post! Yes. Character is plot. You explain this very well. Thank you.