101 TIWIK #27: What Does Character Driven Actually Mean? Amanda June Hagarty Guest Post

Today we have a special treat! Amanda June Hagarty, a talented and gregarious local writer, editor, and social media maven has agreed to help me out with a guest post about what it really means to write character-driven fiction. It’s a term we all toss around a lot, but how many of us can really pin down the difference between character-driven and plot-driven writing?

Well, Amanda certainly can, and she’s here to show us how. Without further ado:

What is character-driven fiction? Hmm. It’s hard to think of an easy definition. I think Selah asked me to write this segment in her blog series because my bio says I write character-driven fiction. If I were a character in a story, my “shameful secret” would be that I can’t really explain what I mean by that.

But, let me see what I can come up with.

Let’s start with the very basics of a story. There are some characters, and they do some stuff. You have characters and you have plot—those are the building blocks that you stack all the other blocks on top of.

Yikes! We are talking about some pretty fundamental issues when we ask ourselves what is a character-driven story, aren’t we?

I tried to find a Wikipedia definition to help me out with the question. But the closest I could find was under the “Characterization” entry where there was a very short discussion on plot-driven vs. character-driven. Aristotle was a proponent of plot over character, arguing that tragedy “is a representation, not of men, but of action and life.” So one could argue that the opposite is true for the definition of character-driven: a representation, not of action and life, but of men.

That sounds a little basic (and sexist—shame on you Aristotle). And it also implies that you can have one without the other, and still call it a story.

One of the reasons it is so hard to pin down and define what makes a story character-driven, is that there is actually a spectrum between character-driven and the plot-driven. It is never really just one or the other. The plot and the characters are like two horses and the story is like a race between them. Sometimes they may be neck and neck, other times one will pull out ahead of the other. Whether that winning horse is Character or Plot determines how we label a story.

A Character-Driven Story Starts at the Beginning

Every writer is different in the things they like to focus on. We all have certain themes that we chase. We all come up with ideas and develop them differently. Which comes first? Plot or Character? It’s a “chicken-or-the-egg” kind of question that all writers have slightly different answers to.

Some stories are born as fully formed situations that a still-developing character must deal with. Other stories are born as unique and captivating characters whose story the author simply must explore. The second is how a character-driven fiction often begins.

Putting your characters in the drivers seat means asking the right questions

For my story, Little Lacey, I started with a character that was part teenager and part bat—and the very first thing she did (plot) was chase a white rabbit into the woods, as she lost herself to an uncontrollable animal instinct. Plot was present in that initial proto-story, of course (you can’t call it a race if you only have one horse), but the questions I was asking, as I poked and prodded at it, were focused on the character. How did she become part bat? How did that affect her life? What was it like to have an animal nature as well as a human nature? These are the questions that drove me as I developed the story. I realized that her world would be populated with children who teased and bullied her for being different, and that she would feel enormous pressure from the adults to suppress her animal instincts and act like a proper human girl. Those elements are what led me to a plot that culminates with her back at the magic wishing well, which initially transformed her, and the choices she makes in that moment.

For a plot driven story I might have initially focused on: What happened when she chased the rabbit into the woods? What were the consequences? How did she react to those consequences? I did get around to asking those questions, eventually, but they were not my first and foremost questions.

Character arc or action arc, what does the story hinge on?

The culmination of a character-driven story drives home the focus on character one more time. You have a resolution to a plot or action arc, but you also have a resolution to a character arc. The character experiences a change in what defines them. She was one way at the start of the story, and is a different way at the end. How much a story is character-driven vs. plot-driven is determined by how significant that change is to the overall story arc and reader experience.

For a truly plot-driven story you may have something kind of shallow, like Indiana Jones getting over his fear of snakes in order to arrive at the treasure room. But the whole story doesn’t actually hinge on his fear of snakes. Only that one tiny, but crucial, moment. We forget all about the snakes and his phobia when he actually gets the treasure. The action arc, getting the treasure, is what it’s all about.

A character-driven story like Memoirs of a Geisha tells the story of a powerless young girl who constantly does what she is supposed to do. In the end she decides to turn the tables and do something she is not supposed to do, which leads her to happiness. Just like Indiana Jones, she can’t have her happy ending until she has changed–from a girl who does what she is told, to a girl who takes her fate in her own hands. But in this story, her change is what it is all about. Getting her dream man is less significant; who she becomes to get him, and who she goes on to be, are what it’s all about.

The character as a filter

Finally, a character-driven story is told through the eyes of the character. The character acts as a filter for the actions that unfold, instead of the actions unfolding directly. And because of this, a lot of character-driven stories are told from a point of view deep inside the character’s head.

As the events of the story unfold we see not just the events, but how they relate to the character, her goals, her motivations, her strengths and flaws, her secrets and fears. We are looking at the plot arc through the lens of the character arc.

A definition

So, now that we have explored the nuances of a character-driven story, can we come up with a definition? I would love to hear what you think in the comments below.

Amanda June Hagarty grew up doing not much other than reading. It was a habit so voracious that the publishing industry was simply not fast enough for her, and so she began writing. She writes fantasy and science fiction, in which she loves to explore themes of finding oneself. Her science fiction is marshmallow-soft in nature, more character-driven than metal-and-rivets-driven.

She is a rowdy Canadian living in Bellingham, WA—where she is pursuing a career as a “writer, etcetera.” Her published works include a Science Fiction novelette available most places eBooks are sold, a Fantasy Novel that is nearing completion and being posted serially on Wattpad, and a chapter in a post apocalyptic serial published in the Bellingham Herald.

That’s it for this week, folks! Starting out again on Monday, whether or not your character is driving the story, you still need to know . . . 101 TIWIK #28: What’s Driving Your Character?

This post is part of a series of 101 Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Wrote My First Book. Start reading the series at the beginning. 

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