Tag: Character development

Editing Rant: L is for Likeable

Erin Penn 5 Comments

Photo by Ekaterina Shakharova on Unsplash

Hey y’all visiting for the A-to-Z challenge, welcome and salutations. One of my jobs is being an editor of genre fiction, both a developmental editor and a copy editor. Once a month in this blog, I go off on rants about what I see a lot of – so writers know what editors see a lot of and know to NOT DO THAT.

Today’s rant: Likeability.

Your characters need to be likeable or at least sympathetic.

If you are writing a romance, the romantic leads NEED to be likeable. Mysteries can break the likeability rule as it helps reader think anyone could have been the killer, but please, for romances, at the very least, make the leads likeable.

And to pull likeability off, some of the following things need to happen:

One: The First Impression cannot be a negative one. Just like meeting people in real life, first impressions with fictional characters need to be positive. Don’t have your character kick a puppy, or whine, or betray their friends or any of that before we see something we like about them first. Strangely, you can have the positive first interaction, and then do a flashback where they kick the puppy, and the reader will be more likely to forgive them or make excuses because they know the person is a “good guy”. Do likeable things first.

Two: For a Point of View character that will be around for a while (like in a series), make sure they are entertaining enough that the audience wants to hang with them for multiple books. Do they make a reader laugh, make them think, or make them feel comfortable? No one wants to hang with people they don’t like.

Three: Create a connection (empathy) with the reader (before anything bad happens) in two of the following five ways: Likeable, Sympathy, Jeopardy, Power, or Humor (this list  was suggested by Darynda Jones way back in 2014 on Magical Words). Likeable is not telling us everyone likes them, it is showing us people like them. Make them a nice character. Sympathy is a understanding what the character is going through, stuff like a parent recently died or getting yelled at by the boss. Jeopardy is something is a problem, they are late with their rent (through no fault of their own), they just got kidnapped. Power can be used to make a bad guy more connectable; everyone loves a person with power. Humor – snark is a wonderful thing.

Make your characters someone that people want to spend time with.

AVOID THE FOLLOWING (ALL EXAMPLES FROM BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS)

  1. Don’t have the character be an impulsive, lazy, backstabbing thief to friends and family, before they are exiled. The developmental recommendation is start with the exile (jeopardy) and their skill at breaking into buildings outside the community to get the food needed (power), THEN backtrack to them stealing from family and friends, lying about the stealing, stealing impulsively when they decide they are hungry. I hated that main character so much for all the damage they did in that first chapter before their exile. The author needed to switch the first two chapters. Yes, the main character was a teenager learning how to be a better person as the character growth arc for the book, but the reader needed the YA protagonist to not need a slapping when they first meet them.
  2. Don’t treat profanity and vulgarity as humor. Unrelenting cursing is not witty dialog; Reservoir Dogs worked because of the meaning of what they said, not the words used. Shock-value is a power-play, not humor. Witty dialog takes work. Humor isn’t easy. Yes, profanity and vulgarity can be used in a humorous way, but focus on the HUMOR, not the expletives. If you want to be funny, be fucking funny not just fucked up.
  3. Don’t have us meet our anti-hero while he is being more anti- than hero. Don’t have us meet him promising to kill someone after bribing someone else, then blowing up the bar which the other characters we have already met are performing at, before we see the first little bit of the hero side. Once the impression of “a-hole” has been set, it isn’t going anywhere.

Don’t have a reader read the chapter title of “Ask Me If I Care” and have them answer “You know, I don’t” and close the book.

Make your characters likeable.

Comment below on a book where the likability of the characters made you either (1) stop reading or (2) keep reading even though you didn’t enjoy the plot, you just like the characters.

Writing Exercise: B is for Blocked

Erin Penn 12 Comments

Photo by Susan Holt Simpson on Unsplash

Today is the second day of the A-to-Z challenge and the letter is “B”. For a writers, what we often face is the beloved Writer’s Block. Something has stopped the story dead.

In November, a person reached out with a question: “I’m writing a futuristic/sci-fi political drama which I was keeping fairly grounded to genre. But now that the main plot is picking up, I need something to happen to motivate my MC, kickstart her into action. So far, my favorite idea is her getting cursed. Which is very much not the tone for a futuristic/sci-fi political drama. I’m still early in working everything out, so not a big thing, but it feels a bit silly to be stuck (for weeks!) debating a curse mixing up the genre. Any help will be welcomed.”

I said it sounded like two things were happening:

  1. You want your MC to start taking action.
  2. You are going for a quick fix, which you know is wrong for what you want to write.

The result for the author was writer’s block. They were stuck because they were trying to drive the story where it didn’t want to go. I’m going to go out on a limb and say, after exhaustion, this is the most common type of writer’s block. Either consciously or unconsciously your story is telling you “don’t go there.”

In this case, the author was introducing an element which didn’t fit the story and they knew it. More often the writer’s blockade is unconscious; they have to have the character hit a story beat so they are making their character act against their nature and the seething-ocean of story creation refuses to throw up words to crash onto the screen.

If something is wrong, then maybe a different approach is needed. I gave three suggestions because each writer and each problem to be solve needs a different approach; writing is NEVER a one-size-fits-all solution.

The Problem: The MC is lacking agency or action, so how to get her motivated to interact with the plot?

Solution One

If motivation is wanted, goals can help. What does she value – short term (today or in the couple of days), medium term (wants to accomplish this month/year), and long-term goal? How are these compatible and how to do they clash – for example, don’t want to cook tonight so want to eat out but also want to save money for a house – the medium goal of getting a better job doesn’t apply at the moment. But that can kick in because while out at the restaurant, she sees a “now hiring” at the establishment next door to the restaurant.

Then, with the typical meanness of an author giving trouble to their characters, you CRASH all her motivations and make her reevaluate her life. Releasing she didn’t have enough money to even by a pizza slice because prices just went up, she walks into the job interview and gets abducted by aliens.

Meme I created after the SAGA 2023 writer’s conference

Less overt, while eating at the restaurant, she overhears something related to the city job situation which she then investigates.

Solution Two

The curse is a stick method to getting the character to interact with the story. They have no choice in the matter. If the stick method is throwing up a writer’s block, maybe try the carrot method. The goal solutions list in Solution One is one method to discover carrots and sticks particular to the character goals; sticks with goals can be they had been thinking about leaving work and something forces them to stay or leave. But other sticks can be of the more common variety: an accident or general life event. Other carrots could be an invitation to a party or seeing their favorite candy on sale. In general, the inciting incident which changes the status quo of the MCs life can be a carrot or a stick. Most authors go for sticks, because most people don’t change their comfortable status quo until something makes it uncomfortable. Using a carrot can be a change of pace to get the MC moving; the stick method can be saved for the dark-of-soul moment. If you have hit a complete block, brainstorm a dozen or so sticks and an equal number of carrots, both at least ten in number and some can be really crazy, and see if any work at getting the character motivated.

Solution Three

Maybe the character isn’t the right person for the story you want to tell. The third option is to interview the character. If the story is fighting you, sit down with your character(s) and have a chat, it can be on paper or in your head.

Copyright © Zooll.com Design by MysticEmma

Ask them why they don’t want to go along with the story. Ask them if they want to do it (the action required to get to the next part of the story), what DID they want to do. Would they be willing to return back to the plot after that sidequest? How does the sidequest fit in to the main story? Ask the MC if she doesn’t want to be part of the story you are trying to write, if she can recommend someone else. You might get an answer, well, duh, I hate to travel but my baby sister ran away three times while we were growing up. “Can’t it just be you?” “Nope, it is my sister and her best friend.” (Yes, they are imaginary, but we build them to feel real, and sometimes “someone” related to the MC build is the one the story is actually about.)

WRITING EXERCISE: Work with one of the solutions suggested to better understand a character from your present work-in-progress (WIP) or dig out one of your failed stories which had hit a writer’s block. Either do a goal spread for short, medium, and long term; do a carrot and stick brainstorm of at least ten carrots and ten sticks; or sit down and have a conversation with the characters about what they want to do and why.

Book Review (SERIES): Seashell Key

Erin Penn Leave a comment

It is your Lucky Day to live through The Monster Storm at Seashell Key, an tourist island where the children of the people who work there explore their world and attend school. This chapter book series containing diversity and good pictures, peaks with the second book of the series. I read all of these through the local library system.

Seashell Key Series by Lourdes Heuer (author) and Lynnor Bontigao (illustrator)

Book 1: Seashell Key
Book 2: The Monster Storm
Book 3: The Lucky Day

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for SEASHELL KEY

Seashell Key is the first in author Lourdes Heuer and award-winning illustrator Lynnor Bontigao’s young chapter book series―perfect for fans of Princess in Black and Mercy Watson, about a diverse community of kids living in a beautiful seaside town!

Welcome to Seashell Key! Summer is here, and the children of this cozy coastal town are ready to welcome visitors to their little oasis. There’s Mateo, who runs his little kite-making business, Sail and Soar, alongside his dad’s Sky and Sea store; Sasha and Sophia, who comb the seashore next to their mother’s sandwich stand; and Eli, Ezra, and Elana, who live in the cozy-but-cramped lighthouse and entertain passing tourists with tall tales.

Filled with a vibrant cast and lots of summery fun, this is the start of an exciting chapter book series.

MY REVIEW for SEASHELL KEY

A pleasant child book with a mix of female and male characters (in equal number for the children!).

Things that could have been better:
(1) The female and male division of “traditional” to be stronger than it is. Mateo’s (single?) father run a retail shop and flies a plane; Sasha & Sophia’s (single?) mother owns a lunch counter and the kids also eat at Mrs. Cerise’s fruit stand. So small business owners, but split along gender lines for “traditional” tasks of food preparation. (Parent genders match their children.)
(2) Children interests are also gender-coded. Mateo makes kits, Sasha draws pictures, Sophia dances-writes poetry-and-sings, Eli is interested in investigation, Ezra in science fiction, and (yay for breaking tradition) Elana in digging-and-archeology.
(3) The very small discouragement of school and keeping things clean. “Sometimes she suggests they study. Sometimes she suggests they clean. These are both terrible, terrible suggestions.” But the person reacting is the younger sister who is a disorganized artistic type. With parent supervision of a child reading this section, the parent can point out Sasha is an organized person and Sophia is a disorganized person, but both are able to function and get things done is fine, thereby mitigating the school bashing. I get tired of the constant school bashing in children’s books. We don’t have to say it is great, but nor do we need to disparage it. School, like work, is a fact of life. It has good and bad.

Things that are great:
1) Seeing tourists show up again and again throughout the book. Parents can work with children to take apart the pictures. The illustrator, Lynnor Bontigao, has done an amazing job.
2) All the different animals Sasha draws.
3) All the different kites Mateo makes.
4) The celebration of imagination of all the children.
(Homeschoolers and summer-vacationers can definitely use any of the four stories within this book as a jumping point for different activities.)

Each of the four stories/”acts” has a story arc of three chapters. Introduction of the characters, problem/want to solve, and the action of solving it. The children each come up with their own solutions to their need-to-explore/fight-the-boredom at the start of summer.

The bedrock for this series is community, in particular the tourist community of Seashell Key and the children of the year-round residents.

Plus a star for diversity. Checked out from the local library.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE MONSTER STORM

The Monster Storm is the second book in author Lourdes Heuer and award-winning illustrator Lynnor Bontigao’s young chapter book series Seashell Key―perfect for fans of Princess in Black and Mercy Watson―about a diverse community of kids living in a beautiful seaside town!

It’s fall on the island of Seashell Key! A monster storm is on the horizon, but that won’t stop Mateo from entering the fall festival competitions, or Sophia and Sasha from showing off their swimming skills. When the storm finally hits, Eli, Ezra, and Elana gather around the flashlight to tell spooky stories about the monster of Seashell Key―that is if they can agree on what the monster actually is! When the storm finally passes, the gang has to work together to find Pixie the dog―hopefully before the monster of Seashell Key finds her!

Filled with a vibrant cast and lots of fall fun, this is a great addition to an exciting new chapter book series.

MY REVIEW for THE MONSTER STORM

Wow, the second of the series is a step above for children’s books.

Again, amazing illustrations by Lynnor Bontigao. The chapter where Eli, Ezra, and Elana ride out the storm in the lighthouse by telling spooky stories have all three children in the pictures of the stories. Each picture has so many hidden details, starting with the kites of the first page, no doubt made by Mateo. Going through the pictures with a new reader will be an adventure in-and-of-itself.

The format is the same as the first book of the series – this time the first day of fall instead of the first day of summer for Seashell Key. Instead of tourists in the background, we have the building of a storm and dealing with the day after. Four Acts, each of the first three concentrating on one family group/child then finally collecting them all for a final adventure. Each act has three chapters.

With the introductions completed in the first book, this time we dive right into the stories. Mateo is a maker, so be prepared to have the child-reader want to emulate his creations from a banana-cheese-sour-cream pie to the no-scarecow. Each child we previously met personality shines through during the competition. Sasha embrace of reality to Sophia’s love of imagination; these two are so clearly different from each other, but their sibling bond still comes through. Elana’s history and archelogy interest makes the obvious choice of a ghost for the costume contest.

The final act, where the beat of the storytelling from the “scary” stories being repeated when they discover the green water monster is perfect. (If you like to watch for great storytelling by an author.)

Also, if you are a storyteller and want to see how it is done, this is a excellent book to pick apart for character building and connecting groups of characters together. I have read several “adult” books where every scene is isolated and the characters in one scene is not connected to the next, aside from the main character – Seashell Key seamlessly has the isolated groups come together. If you are a person who loves character building, this series is doing it well.

Library book.

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE LUCKY DAY

The Lucky Day is the third book from author Lourdes Heuer and award-winning illustrator Lynnor Bontigao’s young chapter-book series—perfect for fans of Princess in Black and Mercy Watson—about the adventures of a diverse community of kids living in a beautiful seaside town.

It’s the last day of school before spring break, but there’s still so much to do! Mateo is on a mission to catch a leprechaun, and Sasha and Sophia can’t wait to work on their school garden. Elena just wants to read about dinosaurs, but when she finds a secret map in her textbook, she’ll need all her friends to help her find the treasure of Seashell Key—and make a treasure map of their own!

Filled with a vibrant cast and lots of spring fun, this is a great addition to an exciting new chapter book series.

MY REVIEW for THE LUCKY DAY

I absolutely adored the second book of this series. This third book returns to one of my ongoing objections of children’s book: the maligning of school.
“Tomorrow is the start of spring break. But today is a school day. Bad luck!”

Then the day goes on to be a wonderful day of school, the first day of spring.

Illustrations by Lynnor Bontigao continue to support the narrative, while also providing interaction for young readers who may still be more interested in the pictures than in reading. The structure of four acts persists, though this time the children are separated by age group as appropriate for school. Mateo and Eli are first in Math class, and like the previous first acts of the book series, Mateo makes things. Sasha, Sophia, and Ezra are together in Science class; all three bringing their unique energies to a gardening project. Elena makes friends with a new kid in language arts. And the fourth act, everyone is together in art class and then after-school.

The series has lots of cool ideas of projects to do with a homeschooler or active child of the kindergarten through third grade age. The children in the narrative aren’t always perfect angels, but they are always exploring, figuring out things to do, and making things happen. There is agency here. There is diversity in the tourist town the children live in, both in the adults and in the children.

Checked out from the library.

Writing Exercise: Plot-Driven or Character-Driven story?

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Photo by Lucas Kepner on Unsplash

This year I started using Storygraph as well as Goodreads for book reviews.

You can find me at Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4918831.Erin_Penn

Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/erin_penn

One of the questions Storygraph always ask is “is this book character-driven or plot-driven?” with an option of “it’s complicated” and “N/A” (the not-applicable is useful for non-fiction reads). And while I’ve been answering the question, each time I see it, I think, what is the EXACT definitions of each. Well, Webster isn’t going to come to the rescue on this one.

DEFINE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STORY AND PLOT

A “story” is a sequence of events that are linked together in a meaningful way to create a narrative. … A story may include characters, settings, themes, conflicts, and emotions. (McGregor)

A plot isn’t much different, referring to the specific sequence of events. Plot is how the author reveals the narrative – sometimes as a straight line, sometimes involving twists and turns.

We all have had friends tell a story, but lose the plot in the telling. There is a structure to a plot, which a story might lack. Plot is a map, how to get from here to there, with side quests, backups, and a dozen other elements to move “the story forward and create tension, conflict, and resolution.” (McGregor)

CHARACTERS

Characters are also part of the story. Several aspects of character consideration were covered in last month’s writing exercise, “Main Character, Protaganoist, Narrator, Hero, Oh My Murderbot.” We talk a lot about characters and the importance of making them real through the story’s dialog and narrative in this blog.

CHARACTER-DRIVEN VS. PLOT-DRIVEN

So what is the difference between a character-driven story or a plot-driven story. That is simple: with character-driven, the story is centered on the character and is driven forward by the INTERNAL CHOICES of the character; and with plot-driven, the story is driven forward by the EXTERNAL EVENTS of the world until a Goal is reached. Clear?

Clear as mud. Obviously character-driven will focus more on characters, while plot-driven will focus more on plot. And since nearly every fictional story out there has both characters and a plot, there will be a mix of both “drives” within the writing. But how does this impact writing?

That is the real question isn’t it, “How does this impact writing?” How can I use this to make MY WRITING better?

Let’s do a deeper dive into each.

CHARACTER-DRIVEN

Genre writing leans into plot and literary writing leans into character. A story will lean more one way or the other, but character-driven leans into the “internal” conflict of the character, exploring motives, personality, thoughts, and relationships. Internal development and transformation (or no transformation despite everything the world throws at them) are key aspects to a character-driven story.

Everyone talks about CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT; this is essential to a character-driven story. Golden storylines include when the character’s internal goals are in conflict with each other.

In Exit Strategy (Murderbot book 4) by Martha Wells, SecUnit thinks, “The last thing I wanted was to ask the company gunship for help. The last thing I wanted was for GrayCris to catch us. These two last things are incompatible.” This is the perfect example of internal goals in conflict with each other. By the way, the Murderbot SERIES is character-driven, but the storylines of the individual BOOKS are plot-driven. We see SecUnit grow and change over the length of the series, developing personality and relationships, but within each book, events are pushing it forward to an end-goal.

If you want to create a more character-driven story, make the beginning about the protagonist – you might need to go light on the plot for the first little bit. Throughout the book, lots of character description is essential. Don’t just fix “white rooms,” giving the story a setting. Describe the people, how they dress and move, how they think about each other. What are their wants, needs, and goals?

The story itself should be built around the character. If you put a different character in the story, it would be a different story. And it’s not like changing out a marine for a civilian-type change, it THIS MARINE – HIM! that the story is built around. The hayseed from Ohio who dreamed of being an astronaut and studied the skies each night and memorized sky charts, he is essential to getting his unit back to Earth after aliens kidnap them out of the desert. Internally, he struggles to point them home because this will be his only chance to be out here. Without him, the story would be completely different.

And it is not just the protagonist in a character-driven story who is layered, nearly every character has a BACKSTORY. People are complex and nuanced. Each changing as they interact with the others.

Readers finish the story because they want to know what happens to the characters. This will happen despite there often being no clear end-point to the story. Internal changes do not wrap up in neat bows. Thought-provoking choices drive the character; conflict is changed by the character decisions.

PLOT-DRIVEN

At the other end of the question, genre-commercial writing is plot-driven. Clearest are thrillers and mysteries, but also horror, action-adventure, fantasy, science-fiction, and westerns. You would think Romances would be character-driven, but like most of the fantasy-leaning genres, they are plot-driven.

External conflict is the key to the plot. The world impact on the characters and they must interact with it. Starting the book with the action already happening is very popular with plot-driven stories. Where character-driven stories, we first meet the characters; with plot-driven, we first meet the plot and it may be some time before things slow down enough for us to learn the protagonist’s name and motives (if they ever slow down).

Twists happen in the series-of-events, changing the character’s goals, moving them from one scene to another. They enter the scene going in one direction, but need to go in a different direction when leaving. Characters are devices used to advance the plot.

The tricky thing with a plot-driven story is to make sure the character has agency; with the world shoving them around willy-nilly, how can the character show they are making their own choices? This is where a writer borrows tools from a character-driven story to keep agency with the character.

Serial-style stories are always plot-driven. Mysteries where the main character solves a murder each time and the series books can be read in any order (mostly), these are plot-driven. No character-development means not character-driven. Yes, Mrs. Polifax and Miss Marple do change over their long series, somewhat, and their characters are what makes the story interesting, but the PLOT – the murder mystery or political action thriller – is what is driving the story. James Bond is just the car getting the story down the road.

A story-arc series, duology, trilogy, or longer, can also be plot-driven, but the character reset at the start of each book is a CLEAR indication of a plot-driven story. Some of the vlogs and blogs I read preparing this post called these “static characters.” The Simpsons television show is an excellent example of characters always returning to a “null state” despite everything impacting their lives – an alien invasion happens in one story leaving not a single building standing, even Moe’s bar is demolished, and in the next episode, Springfield is back to normal.

An external Goal being reached is another hallmark of a plot-driven story. The reader finishes this type of story to see what happens. The endpoint is usually clearly marked. Here is where the Romance is defined as plot-driven. The plot is to fall-in-love; a happily ever after must be delivered to the reader. Sometimes the characters make choices that just don’t make sense in service to the plot; as a writer, you want to avoid this, but with a plot-driven story it is easier to tell yourself, “They have to make this choice for us to get to the end.”  If that happens, as a good writer, you need to go back and add something to the backstory, seeding things to help explain the forced choice.

Fables and other stories with morals are also plot-driven. The goal is to share an EXTERNAL lesson on how the world works, not how the internal thoughts of a person or animal adjusted because of the narrative.

In a character-driven story, changing out the protagonist for someone else will cause the story to disintegrate, but any plot might actually result with the same character development. Going to work or going to the moon doesn’t matter, the thought changes while traveling is the important part of the narrative. With the plot-driven story, you might substitute out a different Marine, or Elf, or shopper in a grocery story and have no change in the story. On one hand, the linchpin holding everything together is the character and in the other, it is the plot.

The previous example of Ohio-Marine, as a character-driven story, the narrative actually focused on the choice whether to return home or explore space. The conflict was internal. If plot-driven, the story would have been about overcoming the aliens and figuring out the equipment; external factors to overcome. The goal of going home was never really in question. Any Marine or even a grocery shopper could be the protagonist. The trip to get to the end might be slightly different, but the end goal is still the same. The structure of the narrative remains unchanged.

When initially writing the story, authors often think of either a plot element or a character first. This will lean a story more to being character-driven or plot-driven. Was the plot built to fit the characters strengths and weaknesses, or did the plot create the character with flaws and assets tailor-made to resolve the conflict and challenges of the stories?

HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCES

As an editor, I need to figure if a story is plot-driven or character-driven. For my particular publisher, we are action-oriented. We love starting “in medias res” with someone running and shooting. And while we say we want interesting characters, and we do, at the end of the day we are a plot-driven genre publisher.

So how can I help writers to shape their story to be even more “plot-driven” without leaving eccentric characters by the wayside. First look at what is introduced first: Plot or Main Character? Second, is the story about “why is something happening” (choices made) or “what is happening “(actions taken)? Third, chip, shape, and polish as needed.

MAKE SURE BOTH CHARACTERS AND PLOTS ARE DEVELOPED

Remember to develop both characters or plot, although one will have more impact on the narrative than the other.

One of the ways to do this is when outlining, outline all the plot points and along-side the plot points mark any internal changes the character has. Another way is be sure the character has AGENCY against the plot, while also making sure some of the world is outside the character’s control and they have to react to this EXTERNAL impact on their life.

Internal and external / thoughts and action / all control and no control. Find the balance between each of these which best serves the story you are trying to tell.

LOVE WORLDBUILDING

While reading other people articles on character-driven vs. plot-driven, most were of the opinion world-building, when mentioned at all in relation to this topic, is part of the plot. This opinion reduces the fantastic and amazing aspects of fantasy and science-fiction, removing them from consideration in a character-driven plot.

I consider the world not just a setting, but another character impacting and interacting with the characters. And as a character, you just don’t drop world’s backstory in one infodump anymore than you would the love interest of the protagonist. Be sure to enhance the world with purpose; what are the goals of the culture, the flaws of the society, the strength of its nature.

WRITER EXERCISE

Which way to you lean when writing? What tools can you take from plot-driven stories and character-driven stories to make your present work-in-progress (WIP) better? Comment below about two aspects of your WIP that are character-driven and two aspects of the story that are plot-driven?

READING EXERCISE

What stories to you read and enjoy the most? While you might say you read stories for characters, would you say those stories are plot-driven or character-driven primarily? Taking your present read-in-progress, can you break out the parts that make it a plot-driven narrative and the parts that make it a character-driven narrative? Write about what you discover in the comment below.

 

Bibliography

Emmons, Abbie. “Plot Driven vs. Character Driven Stories.” YouTube. 2020 (says five years ago). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k68tf-Nut2I – last viewed 8/10/2025. – Note: This vlogger is completely character-driven focused; does not believe plot-driven stories have value. I watched it as part of the research, and I think the vlogger might have some good insights into character creation, given personal preferences, but grains of salt are needed with this one – like BIG grains.

McGregor, Lewis. “Character vs. Plot-Driven: Know the Difference.” IndieTips. 2023 February 23. https://indietips.com/character-driven-vs-plot-driven/ – last viewed 8/10/2025.

Pen and Sword. “Plot Driven VS Character Driven Stories.” YouTube. 2016 (says nine years ago). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp6ARuDzw8o – last viewed 8/10/2025.

Reedsy. “Character vs. Plot-Driven Stories.” YouTube. 2021 (says four years ago). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqspVy5zIxo – last viewed 8/10/2025.

Writing Mastery. “Plot-Driven vs. Character-Driven stories: What’s the Difference?” 2023 January 12. https://www.writingmastery.com/blog/plot-driven-versus-character-driven-what-s-the-difference – last viewed 8/10/2025.

Writing Exercise: Main Character, Protagonist, Narrator, Hero, Oh My Murderbot

Erin Penn Leave a comment

ID 125627495 | Hero © Kiosea39 | Dreamstime.com

Often times people lump the Main Character, Protagonist, Narrator, and the Hero together in their head, but these parts of a story are actually all just a little bit different. I recently finished watching Murderbot Season One, and it inspired this post.

NARRATOR: As in the books, SecUnit is the Narrator in the television show. The person whose voice is telling the story. In some books, this is a generic omniscient speaker. Other times, it can be the person outside story, such as the grandfather reading the story in the Princess Bride movie. Fantasy loves telling stories from a historian’s point-of-view, writing the epic centuries after the events.

Much more often, in the present trends of storytelling, the narrator is the point-of-view (POV) character of the story as that is the POV we are seeing everything from, and whose emotional and experience lens the knowledge is being passed to the reader.

Now what caught my interest in Apple+ version of Murderbot is in order to make the story work in a television setting, the protagonist wasn’t SecUnit.

PROTAGONIST: Protagonist meaning “The Player of the first part / Chief Actor” from Ancient Greek dramas. But someone once gave me a definition to help me, as an editor, figure out who the protagonist of the story is: “The person who changes the most in the story.” This is the person the plot impacted; they changed because of the events around them.

These would be the main characters: Murderbot, Mensah, Arada, Pin-Lee, Ratthi, Bharadwaj, and Gurathin. Most of the group are the same people coming out of the story as going in; even SecUnit. Yes, it matured, but at it’s core it is still confused for purpose, a video addicted security expert, and very much a child in terms of understanding and accepting responsibility. It will grow up later; around book 3 or 4, it finally started understanding “adult” responsibilities.

The one who changed on the Apple TV version of Murderbot season one was Gurathin. He started outside the group, hurting and unsure. Jealous of the new member who Mensa had adopted as a new project. Acting out from the pain of isolation. By the end, he is still Gurathin, isolated, but instead of being just outside the circle, he is a step or two inside the community. He has let go of his jealousy, and acted to save his friend-enemy.

HERO: While many story structure analysis says the protagonist comes in three flavors: hero, anti-hero, or villain (again the one driving the story), I am going to say in this case, the hero is different. The Hero of the story is the Good Guy, the one you hope succeed, and aspire to be like. Again, this is very much not Murderbot. It likes killing. The one I would aspire to be is Mensah. She is the hero for all of them. Even for Murderbot. She isn’t its mentor, she is its favorite human. The one it goes out of its way to help succeed. The rest of the group is its humans, but Mensah is its hero.

MAIN CHARACTER: Finally, we have the Main Character (MC). In most stories, especially Urban Fantasies, the MC, narrator, protagonist, and hero are bundles into one person. In the Murderbot TV show, the narrator is clearly Murderbot. When it goes offline, we lose parts of the story. It is also, clearly, the title character. (Note that the title character is often NOT the main character.) SecUnit has the most screen time. In the case of the TV series, I would say Murderbot is the main character.

WRITING EXERCISE: Take a movie, TV show, novel, or story you are writing and figure out who is the Narrator(s), the Protagonist, the Hero, and the Main Character. Write it up on your blog and drop the link below, or just drop the results of the exercise below.

My attempt: Obviously, Murderbot AppleTV was used above. But I recently submitted a short story to an anthology. I don’t know what the final name will be, but the anthology should be coming out soon. In the superhero road-trip story,

NARRATORS: I have three point-of-view (POV) characters: Annie / Freakin’ Angel; Onyx / Fire Orb; and Vicky / (superpower name not chosen yet – nor whether she is a villain or a hero).

PROTANGONIST: The story doesn’t have one. The point of the story is a road trip. Everyone is the same at the end of the story as the beginning. The trip doesn’t change them, nor does their actions change the world. Some genres and story-plot-archetypes just break the rules that way.

HERO: Someone you want to be like, who inspires you. As this is a subsection of protagonist, we don’t have a hero/anti-hero/villain. The characters of this story are superheroes, but not necessarily heroes, not yet. That might happen in the next story.

MAIN CHARACTERS: That is the road-trip pair: Annie and Onyx / Freakin’ Angel and Fire Orb.

If you get a chance to read the novelette, be sure to drop in the comments below if you agree with my breakdown of the story.