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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.
