Character driven vs. Plot driven

AdamH · May 10, 2006

Which makes a better story?

Only reason I ask is I'm somewhat of a junkie of the TV show "Lost" which seems to be an entirely character-driven show with little plot advancement each episode. I figured I ask it here since it is essentially a writing choice.

For me, I think a nice balance between the two would be ideal but if you had to choose one over the other, what would you choose?

I'd lean more towards plot than character. Just wondering.

Note to mods: if this thread is better suited for "Office Party", feel free to move it. (As if you wouldn't just do it anyway... :tongue

)

icerose · May 10, 2006

I don't really understand the charact vs plot myself. I think I am more plot oriented.

An idea, or situation comes in mind, a character (usually unnamed at this point, sometimes a name pops in my head) and it moves out from there. To me it's more like characters speak to me and tell their story through me, then actually creating or crafting a story. This varies from story to story, some are very much crafted by me.

I know, I'm weird, but it works for me.

Shadow_Ferret · May 10, 2006

I guess my stories are somewhat character driven. I come up with a character first, then create a story around him or her.

maestrowork · May 10, 2006

It depends on the story.

Lost is character-driven. 24 is plot-driven. Both are good shows. The audiences get entertained, and they take something different from the experience.

pconsidine · May 10, 2006

This subject has come up before, but I couldn't find any of the previous threads about it.

Naturally, a balance is in order. Of the books that I've read that focused almost exclusively on plot (Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy is my typical example of such a book), I'm usually left wondering why exactly I spent the time reading that book. Of course, there are opposite examples, where the book meanders through someone's relatively uneventful life for a little while and then stops at some supposedly momentous occasion.

That's why I read nonfiction - not nearly enough examples of well-balanced novels any more.

icerose · May 10, 2006

Adding on to the preference. If you have a strong plot but weak characters it loses it's quality, and the same goes for strong characters but weak plot. If you have a plot or character driven story, just make sure it is complimented by a strong partner.

CaroGirl · May 10, 2006

Character driven, definitely.

As a reader, it's the characters I remember from story to story, book to book. I truly don't remember what Catcher in the Rye is about (I read it in high school, and I'm old), but darned if I don't remember everything about Holden Caulfield.

As a writer (fairly new and unpublished as I am), I have thus far come up with a sketchy plot line first, and then plunked my characters into it. From then on, it's the characters that drive the story, plot and subplots.

veinglory · May 10, 2006

I don't see the dichotomy, sure either element can be done badly -- but doing one well doesn't detract from the other.

gabbleandhiss · May 10, 2006

..

Much of my writing is character driven.

scarletpeaches · May 10, 2006

Character is plot.

Gillhoughly · May 10, 2006

What Carogirl said--character is what does it for me as a reader and a writer.

One of my books was very heavily character-driven, with a lot of intense, important stuff for them to get through.

However, a reviewer concluded that my plot was "water." (But then he'd taken my secondary plot for the main one, so he was a moron.)

Certainly it takes practice to strike a balance between the two!

For instance, DaVinci Code is highly plot-driven. I can't recall the name of a single character, only that one's a scholar, there's a girl, weird bad guy, a lot of running, bland (if not outright sloppy) writing, and (to me) a pi$$-poor, predictable payoff. Beyond that--zip. I strongly felt that the writer had wasted my time--which is one of the sins we must not commit according to Larry Niven.

In the balance camp we've got this magic ring that HAS to be destroyed. Quite a plot driver, that, simple and to the point. I've not read Tolkein's books since high school (some 30 years ago) and can recall tons of detail not only about the main characters, but the minor ones, and all their relatives. Even when I was watching the movies some of the narrative was floating through my head. It had to do with character, and by golly it stuck!

I'll continue to go with character-driven stories, both reading and writing. The fan mail I get is always about my characters, never the plot line.

Whenever I'm recommending a book to a friend I'll be talking about the really cool main character, not what the plot is about.

It's only human nature to recall a telling detail about an interesting person one's met, even if you forget where you met him. I say run with it!

scarletpeaches · May 10, 2006

I think if you start with a good character, the plot flows as it's easy to answer the question, "What would X do?"

If you start with a plot, it's fiddly trying to work out what happens next and sometimes it happens that the characters, well, 'people' in the novel have no integrity, that is, they act in ways that further the plot, rather than being true to their own personality. I think, anyway.

Lyra Jean · May 10, 2006

Character driven because the "people" tell you what they want to do. Plot is created. Not that it's easy, at least for me it's not, but it's more fun.

Flapdoodle · May 10, 2006

Maddwriter said:
Which makes a better story?

Only reason I ask is I'm somewhat of a junkie of the TV show "Lost" which seems to be an entirely character-driven show with little plot advancement each episode. I figured I ask it here since it is essentially a writing choice.

For me, I think a nice balance between the two would be ideal but if you had to choose one over the other, what would you choose?

I'd lean more towards plot than character. Just wondering.

Note to mods: if this thread is better suited for "Office Party", feel free to move it. (As if you wouldn't just do it anyway... )

I find Lost increasingly dull as it concentrates on these terribly corny character things... very predictable and the endings always seem to sentimental & neat. It's lost a dark edge it once had, and just gone a bit daft...Although the last episode I saw was very dark, and one of the best for a while...

Lost once had a lot of plot and tension, but they seem to have turned it into a sort of soap opera in a weird setting.

Jenan Mac · May 10, 2006

Maddwriter said:
Which makes a better story?
Only reason I ask is I'm somewhat of a junkie of the TV show "Lost" which seems to be an entirely character-driven show with little plot advancement each episode. I figured I ask it here since it is essentially a writing choice.
For me, I think a nice balance between the two would be ideal but if you had to choose one over the other, what would you choose?
I'd lean more towards plot than character. Just wondering.

Worked for the Star Wars movies.
No, I agree, finding a balance is key. I tend to think of the novel I'm shopping as character-driven, but then when I read my synopsis, it has a huge plot. So maybe I found the balance. (Guess I'll find out when the responses start rolling in. I sent my first ten queries yesterday.)

bsolah · May 10, 2006

I suppose the diplomatic answer would be to say there needs to be a balance. Though, I do agree that it's the characters we remember whether it's a unique MC or an eccentric villain. Scarletpeaches has an interesting point about plot driven novels making unnatural characters. I'm writing two novels at the moment. One is character driven and the other is plot driven. The former is in limbo, but I'm keeping going with it because I love the characters. The other is written in fits and starts. The characters are some what interesting and the plot seems a little forced. The dark scenes surrounding the main plot offer my only solace.

maestrowork · May 10, 2006

My own preference is character-driven, since I don't write genres that are plot-driven (thrillers, suspense, etc.) As Uncle Jim said, stories are about people. If you have interesting characters, with interesting conflicts and tension, and you let them do things and go with the consequences of these actions, you're going to have a plot, and probably a darn good story.

I agree with CaroGirl, too. When we think of the classics, we usually don't remember exactly what happened in those stories (we do, however, remember the "story" itself) but we most certainly remember the characters. Great characters are timeless. That's not to say great plots are not timeless (The Empire Strikes Back comes to mind), but great plots come from great characters (Yoda, Han, Luke, Darth Vader, etc.).

RG570 · May 10, 2006

veinglory said:
I don't see the dichotomy, sure either element can be done badly -- but doing one well doesn't detract from the other.

+1

I couldn't sit down and say, "ok, this is going to be a character driven story."

janetbellinger · May 10, 2006

Maddwriter said:
Which makes a better story?

Only reason I ask is I'm somewhat of a junkie of the TV show "Lost" which seems to be an entirely character-driven show with little plot advancement each episode. I figured I ask it here since it is essentially a writing choice.

For me, I think a nice balance between the two would be ideal but if you had to choose one over the other, what would you choose?

I'd lean more towards plot than character. Just wondering.

Note to mods: if this thread is better suited for "Office Party", feel free to move it. (As if you wouldn't just do it anyway... )

I have always been character oriented, but am forcing myself to focus more on plot.

Christine N. · May 10, 2006

I think that the best stories are a mix of character and plot. Good plots need three dimensional characters where we can get into their motivation. Good characters need something to do, or else it's not much of a book.

But most books are usually heavier on one than the other.

HConn · May 10, 2006

My car is character-driven.[1]
.
A story is only "plot-driven" if the characterization is weak, and vice versa. If both are strong and appropriate to each other, there won't be a choice between the two, or even a question of which is preferable.

[1]I did not make up that joke. I don't even own a car.

Linda Adams · May 10, 2006

I think they should be drive each other. Unfortunately, in my genre, the tendency is to have heavily plot-driven stories where the characters are little more than chess pieces to be moved around at will. That, in turn, makes for some very unmemorable stories.

alaskamatt17 · May 10, 2006

I guess I'd fall into the character-driven school of writing, though I hate to admit it. To me, plot just seems so much cooler. But invariably I'll sit down to write without having any clue where the story is going, just knowing that there's this guy or this girl who has this problem and needs to fix it.

About the only thing I plan in detail in advance is the setting.

Jamesaritchie · May 10, 2006

Maddwriter said:
Which makes a better story?

Only reason I ask is I'm somewhat of a junkie of the TV show "Lost" which seems to be an entirely character-driven show with little plot advancement each episode. I figured I ask it here since it is essentially a writing choice.

For me, I think a nice balance between the two would be ideal but if you had to choose one over the other, what would you choose?

I'd lean more towards plot than character. Just wondering.

Note to mods: if this thread is better suited for "Office Party", feel free to move it. (As if you wouldn't just do it anyway... )

A good story needs both plot and character, and I can't think of a good novel, or a good TV show, that doesn't use both well. But if I could have only one, it would be character. Readers remember character long after plot is forgotten. We remember Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Sherlock Holmes, etc., but not many can tell you the plots without looking them up. And I suspect Jack Bauer will be remember long after the plots of 24 are forgotten.

triceretops · May 10, 2006

I think I am so visual and action oriented that I could be pegged as a plot man, easily. That's why I have to work doubly hard on characterzation, hoping that I come out with a fair balance. When all is said and done I hope I hit that middle ground.

tri

Character driven vs. Plot driven

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