#plot vs character

[sol1056]

Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on the way to incredible destinations.

Ray Bradbury

[georgelthomas]

Story Engines: Balancing Plot and Character #WritingCommunity #WriterCommunity #Character #Narrative #WritingTips #WritingAdvice #Writers #WriterLife #plot

Story Engines: Balancing Plot and Character

[princess-aziza]

the plot and the character are two different things, pass it on

[leximize]

Writer's Log: 2222 People v Plot

Writer’s Log: 2222 People v Plot

After months and months, I’m actually back reading a novel. Previously, I’d limited myself to technical treatises on writing and such. It seemed every time I picked up a story (that is: read the Look Inside/Preview on amazon or google play) my internal Editor would dismiss the offering.

Audrey Driscoll tenaciously slogged through my noobescent first novel and so I felt obligated to return the…

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[katiekeysburg]

The more I write, the more I see plot as a means to an end

There’s a lot of information out there about how to plot a story.  It talks about outlines and story beats and the underlying framework of it all, but it doesn’t tell you why plot.  Or how to keep a fairly simple structure from seeming boring, obvious or trope-tastic.

And I really love plots.  I love imagining people get kidnapped, setting heroes and villains against each other, thinking up interesting gadgets.  Playing with those toys is fun.  And necessary.  Character is action, after all. But also:

But sometimes events can just seem like clothing your characters put on. And you can change that clothing without changing your deeper intentions for the character, or your deeper intentions for the work. (x)

When I start with a plot bunny that’s purely plot (these spies are stuck on a train and must turn someone; these spies are going undercover as married)  I get stuck more often than not.  It’s not until I decide what the character arc is going to be for the story that I know how to write it.  This makes perfectly great stories sometimes.  This happens, how does this character respond? 

I find it works better when I approach things from the character angle instead.  Which was what I did for What Would Peggy Do?  I wanted to explore a story with Daniel inspired by the Sleepy Hollow episodes where Abbie gets trapped in another dimension and keeps herself sane by conversing with Ichabod in her head.   The idea that our relationships strengthen us even when we’re apart is very powerful to me and I wanted to write it at work for peggysous.

So I chose a plot that would put Daniel alone and in a situation where considering both his own approach and Peggy’s approach to said situation would keep him calm, focused, and ultimately make him successful in surviving it.  I didn’t start to write a story where Daniel gets kidnapped... that is the plot that made the most sense for the story I was trying to tell, and it worked out better and was a LOT easier to write than starting plot first.  And the stories just feel more successful, to me.  More cohesive.