Tag: Write-Plotting

Other Cool Blogs: Alyssa Matesic – Unputdownable

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For the Editing Rant this month I talked about chapter endings and the need to make your book unputdownable, but not do it in a cheesy or predictable way. Don’t let the tension out of the roller coaster with a crisp, complete ending when the chapter finishes. (Chapter Ending Questions 5/12/2026)

A great vlog to follow for developmental editing advise is Alyssa Matestic. Two of her vlogs specifically talk about this essence of storytelling.

The first is “This Simple Trick Will Make Your Novel Unputdownable” (https://youtu.be/8ir5S0Nb_f4?si=a4w9vT1rNX8BEOhk) – the video is embedded below.

The core of it is “A Simple Three-Step Process to Keep Readers READING” (the woman is wonderful at distilling her advice to three core steps for each of the 5-10 minute videos, giving you a break to practice what she has taught before diving into the next one).

  1. Ensure every chapter is substantive on its own – Each chapter has weight, a beginning, middle, and end arc.
  2. Identify the lingering point of tension.
  3. Revise the final lines of the chapter based on Five Tactical Ways to Raise Suspense – (a) Ask a Question – This doesn’t have to be an actual written question, but a question left in the readers mind; (b) Create an Obstacle; (c) Drop a Bomb (etc. – you should watch the video below)

The second of her videos I would like to recommend is “This Psychological Trick Will Change How You Write Forever” (https://youtu.be/6p4_JKpshoc?si=r1IQLKysSDlURPFD) – this video is embedded below.

This video is about the Zeigarnik Effect, where unfinished business is more memorable. This isn’t a cliffhanger, just lack of closure – a door cracked open. Truly a way to make your book unputdownable.

As before, she creates a clear outline of three things to follow (and even inserts breaks into the video so you can jump to the points you are most interested in). (1) Build up to an event; (2) Revise your chapter endings – (a) Is there a question lingering or (b) Is there a sense of anticipation or unease; and (3) …. well, this is a recommendation for another cool blog, not a recap of other people’s work. Enjoy the video below or directly on YouTube.

If you like her work, be sure to subscribe.

Editing Rant: Chapter Ending Questions

Erin Penn 1 Comment

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I recently read a book where nearly every chapter ended with the point of view (POV) character asking themselves a question. What’s up with that?

I think the problem is they were told to end chapters on a mini “cliffhanger” to keep the reader moving forward, making the book unputdownable (yes, a word). John Hartness (recent book release of Eternal Winter in his Bubba series)) and Jason Gilbert (Three Dog Knight, which I edited) are masters of this technique; fortunately they write shorter books so you can survive the unputdownable structure and, maybe, get enough sleep that night to work the next day. But why didn’t a pleasure-read book work if this is a valid techinque?

Well, the cliffhanger can work different ways, sometimes it is a beat break within a battle. Sometimes it is a climax of a scene, emotionally or physically, then a switch to a different POV character. Writers master getting the scene to the point where everything is in place, then break to a different stakes in the next chapter. That one gets to the high stakes, then switch back to the original POV character or situation. Then the cruel-writers resolve the problem they had ended on but before they return to the second issues, they raise the rollercoaster back to the edge and leave us hanging again. Rinse and repeat for the second plotline. No sleep at all, but what a ride. Why didn’t this ride work for me?

The other big way to end, rather than continuing action, is with a question. The way to do this is have the POV character be asked a question or ask someone else a question, encapsulating either what had just happened or bringing up something that had been left by the wayside. “Did that seem too easy to you?”;  “Should Billy have been here by now?” Both sorts of question interchanges have the reader freezing for a moment going, “oh no!”, and jumping into the next chapter to find the answer. Why doesn’t the character asking themselves a question work?

If the book had been a literary book, with layers of self-reflection, it might have worked, but the book was a middlegrade action-adventure. Asking questions like “What should I do next?” and “Should I return home to find out what happened to my family or continue on my quest?” doesn’t create tension for genre. These are internal questions and slow down the action. Self-reflection is fine to figure things out, but a self-reflection question, even “Should I take a boat down the Rapids of Death?”, at the end of a chapter to create a cliffhanger actually pulls a reader back from the edge and leaves them questioning why is the character questioning themselves instead of acting. Literary is self-reflection; genre books are action. Why ask yourself a question?

Action, dialog, interaction, raising stakes. All these are genre tools to pull the reader through the book and make it unputdownable. Asking questions through dialog is fine. Asking questions of yourself is fine as a place to slow down and contemplate, to have a breather for the reader before returning to the rollercoaster.  But using self-reflection questions (which slow things down) as the tension technique to pull the reader through to the next chapter doesn’t work. Do you got that?

Good. Go forth and write something that is unputdownable.

Writing Exercise: The Twist, Make It Real

Erin Penn 1 Comment

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You have reached the center of your story, the mid-point of the second act, and need to add “the twist.” Somehow you need to change all the rules without changing the rules. If you have read a lot, you’ve been exposed to dozens of twists. Sometimes they work, sometimes they are pretentious, and sometimes they fail badly. What makes a good twist?

First and foremost, the twist cannot introduce anything new. It must follow rules and events previously established. To do otherwise is deux machinst (god in the machine), the writer forcing a change for the sake of change. The challenge is to have the event be cause and effect and still be a twist.

In life, twists are those moments where you imitate Homer of the Simpsons cartoon and go “duh”. Or say “that is so obvious, I wish I thought of that”. Recently I was admiring all the escaped balloons decorating a big box store ceiling. How do they get them down? Then I see two retail workers approach with another helium balloon covered with large clear tape in the little circles one does to attach a bow to a gift and the balloon tied to a very, very long string. They released the balloon to the ceiling until it touched another with the clear packing tape, and then pulled down both balloons. They continued until the ceiling was clear. Pure genius. Obvious, following established rules of gravity and adhesion, but a twist I never saw coming.

For the Ah-Ha video I’ve previously written about in blogs on June 2017 (Agency), November 2017 (POV), and May 2018 (Three-Acts), the heroine was pulled into the story. And when the panel police show up to hunt the intruder to the black and white world, the main characters run. The twist to escape is obvious when it happens, but you don’t see it until the hero does it because you are so absorbed in the chase. If one can be drawn into the comic world, one can rip out of it. The woman escapes, and the comic book character guards her exit.

Comedy is great for studying twists. This Bud LIght commercial starring Cedric the Entertainer captures a twist perfectly. Act one establishes the characters, hot chick and lucky guy, act two has the journey to get the beer and the joyous dance celebration, and act three has the resolution. The twist is delivered with the twist of the bottle. Again we get so absorbed in Cedric’s victory dance we forget he is holding the bottles until he sits back down on the couch. A second before the bottle opens, everything that went before plus the rules of carbonation runs through our head and we shout “no” just as the bottle sprays like a firehose into hot chick’s face.

Amhezer Bush, or their advertising department, is good at comedic twists. The ongoing football game between teams of horses with the spectator ranchers at the fence have established the world over the years. Combined with real-world vocabulary and situations translated from the football scene has made for many the perfect twist. From the streaker (all the animals are naked, but a recently sheared lamb is more naked than the rest) to the ranchers complaining about the zebras, in the body of both a referee and a real zebra, we have been surprised again and again by the twists that are no more than typical effect following cause of established rules.

One famous twist happens Aesop fable of the Snake and the Farmer. Used to happy endings, we expect the kindness of the farmer reviving the snake to be repaid. But in the end, the bitten and now poisoned farmer asks the snake why he returned kindness with cruelty: “you knew I was a snake”. So again, natural real-world cause-and-effect already established in the story creates the twist.

WRITING EXERCISE: For you present Work-In-Progress, review your twists. Do all follow rules you have already defined in the story?

READING EXERCISE: Think about a twist you did not like in a story you read. Why didn’t it work for you?

My Attempt: Flash: Magical Menace Mode Part Two – Special Meeting (2/1/2026) – The group of friends discover not everyone is seeing the same thing. Now they have to figure out who is seeing what.

Other Cool Blogs: T is for Thriller

Erin Penn 7 Comments

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One of the challenges of writing is focusing the story. Say you know you have written a Thriller, but thrillers are tight, pared down to the basics and yours…has excess. But what do you keep and what do you jettison? Obviously filler (Cutting the Filler 5/2/2024) and dead words (10/9/2018) go, but that is removing stuff…how do you focus it? One of the ways is figuring out which particular subgenre you story fits into.

Doing a general search of “<genres of choice> subgenres” can help you figure out where your story should fall. For thrillers there are Medical Thrillers, Legal Thrillers, and Techno Thrillers, just to name a few. In an old (September 12, 2011) post, Katherine Roid at Scribbling on the Computer (https://kathrineroid.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/list-of-thriller-subgenres/) describes several thriller subgenres. In addition the post includes links to her science fiction and fantasy subgenres. If you want to know more about mysteries, a search on “mysteries subgenres” will open a plethora of options to better focus your story.

My personal favorite is Romantic Thriller or, more accurately, Thriller Romance where Romance has dominance over the Thriller aspect. Do you have a favorite Thriller subgenre, or a genre where Thriller is the subgenre?

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

Erin Penn Leave a comment

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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.