Tag: Character development

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.

Writing Exercise: Story got Sad

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Image acquired from the Internet Hive Mind 

I know last month we talked about B is for Bleed. This week could be entitled T is for Tears. Explore the emotion of grief / loss. It doesn’t have to be loss of life; there are many things devastating to lose.

WRITING EXERCISE: Create a scene where “the story got sad all by itself.” You know that story you told yourself once that went somewhere you never expected. Five hundred words or less. Good luck!

My attempt: Last month I mentioned the Ymir’s Songs duology.

Writing Exercise: The Stars of Character Development

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Photo 127476676 | Astrology © Dwnld777 | Dreamstime.com (Paid for)

Creating unique characters to play off each other can be difficult. How do you make them sound different, act different, be different? I usually tap into the Sixteen Personality Types, but much of that is crouched in scientific mumbo-jumbo making it hard to access especially when you just want to pants a story. Struggling with the difference between Extrovert and Introvert when all you want to do is write a scene right now can take all the wind out of your sails.

What other groups of personality architypes are there that a writer can take and run with?

Astrology could be tapped to make each of your characters different. Just google a sign – the definitions provided are involved from romantic features to preferred jobs, how they are good and bad at relationships, familiar and romantic – from there you have the basics of a character. And since it isn’t a “scientific” thing, the websites are much more accessible and often give humorous examples. You can use the Western Signs like Pisces and Scorpio or the Eastern Signs like Dragons and Rabbits.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT: Pick two astrological signs and create a scene of 50 to 250 words. Comment below how it changed your character development.

My Attempt: When the Stars Align (12/24/2023) – I had named the first character Leo just at random, but as the scene went on, I decided to match characters to star signs. Some of the characters I named because they were already showing those traits (Virgo/Virga), and others had personality quirks driven by their astrology name (Sagittarius). I found it really helped make the characters be different people without much effort. In the future, if I think my characters are sounding or acting too much the same, I might tap into these architypes again as a character development tool.

Writing Exercise: Fancy That

Erin Penn

Photo by Alvin Mahmudov on Unsplash

“Clothes maketh the man.” is often quoted in books and film. A bit pretentious, but also very true. They give a person confidence, or allows them to hide. Fabric can provide protection or make life dangerous.

What does it bring to the table for your character? For this writing exercise, we will be exploring what your character wears.

WRITING EXERCISE: Define what your character wears in different circumstances. Describe three different outfits – a work day outfit, nighttime attire, and a special occasion for example.

Here are some questions to think about why developing your character’s wardrobe:

  1. What is the fanciest and/or most expensive thing your character has ever worn?
  2. What are their favorite colors for clothes and do they actually look good in those colors?
  3. What do they wear around the house?
  4. Do they wash their own clothes? Do they shop for their own clothes?
  5. Would they repair their clothes or buy new? Have they ever borrowed or bought used clothes?
  6. Do they were clothing to match society? Are they cutting edge or behind?
  7. How much does their clothes costs, and how often do they upgrade them?
  8. Do they wear anything for protection?
  9. What do their shoes look like, and do they own more than one pair?
  10. Accessories are life: Watches, hair ribbons, earrings, lapel pins, rings, gun handles, hats, etc. How much accessories does your character choose?
  11. How does your character’s wardrobe look beside their friends and associates?
  12. How well can your character fight in the outfit?

SELF-CARE EXERCISE: Dress up. No particular reason, just put on a nice outfit, comb out the hair. Just be fancy.

Comment below about how either exercise helped you.