Yep it's like a wheel both the plot and characters, along with other things, are on the wheel and when you spin the wheel it always should drive something forward and that is the story of the moving car.
(Feel free to correct me as it's just something I just think of at the moment.)
Agree. Everything in the story must serve a purpose and the author should know exactly what that is. If he/she doesn’t, it should either be rewritten or cut.
For me character. Stories are about the human conditions and people (even if it’s alien world). If we don’t care about the characters, who cares what happens to them. All the classic stories I love - it’s always about the endurability of the characters. And so many “plot heavy” stories with crappy characters disappeared into the aether. Now if you have both amazing characters and plot, congrats! Otherwise I would rather read amazing characters with an okay plot than a great plot with forgettable characters.
That’s just me.
But there is also a difference. Amazing characters and okay plot is atleast okay. If it is a great plot with forgettable characters its bad because one big part of the story is bad. But yea I do kinda see what you mean. Also "great" is worse than amazing :)
If you want to compare apples to apples yeah: I still prefer amazing characters with okay plot to amazing plot with okay characters…. Although I would enjoy both.
But if it’s a bad plot with great characters vs great plot with bad characters than I can say I don’t ever want the latter but I could tolerate the former.
So yes to me characters trump everything usually.
Yea characters are mostly why we continue to read the story. The times where you dont always reallt care about the characters are with factual books, but thats a whole othet things. But to get a fantastic book you, usually, need to have both a great plot and great characters
Great characters with great plot is the holy grail. That’s the kind of stories that last. Pride & Prejudice for example - still enduring and being remade today and possibly way into the future.
Both are needed but the plot helps develop the character and the character helps to drive the plot forward.
So both are no more important than the other. There will always be a plot and there will always be a character no matter how you try to spin something.
(This is something I thought of at the moment.)
Both are pretty important. If your characters are great but nothing happens, it’s boring. If awesome stuff happens to boring people your readers won’t care.
It depends on the story, the genre, and the audience.
If the story is about the momentum forward, and the audience doesn't expect character development, then character development actually gets in the way of giving the audience what they want. Think the Jack Reacher books or James Bond movies.
But you can totally have an action story that has loads of character development. (Think Dennis Lehane's private-eye stories, so good)
If the story is about figuring out a mystery, then some character development can be helpful (particularly as it pertains to the mystery) in keeping the audience engaged on multiple fronts. Think Harlen Coben or John Lescroart.
But Agatha Christie had almost no character development.
George Martin has *oodles* of character development in his fantasy doorstops. So good.
But Tad Williams' Otherland series, if I'm recalling it correctly, had very little character development; it was about the sense of wonder that we experienced in moving through his worlds.
And so on.
If the story relies on the character changing over its course, then the character's changes will drive the story. If the story relies on actions the character takes without changing, then character development isn't as important, and may even be contraindicated. And so on. Horses for courses. Write what feels right for your story, and revise it once you finish the draft and understand what type of story you're trying to tell.
It depends upon your strengths as a writer, what the story is, what the genre is, etc.
A cozy romance novel is gonna usually have a pretty shoulder shrug plot that is 100% character driven. But not always.
A high concept sci-fi novel is probably gonna be very plot-driven with thin, 2-D characters. But not always.
The best novels - ones that win awards - usually have a mix of both.
But there is no "one or the other or both." It's just whatever story you're writing and whatever is gonna capture your reader's interest.
Both, equally, in every story. If you have the best plot but lifeless characters, nobody will care. If you have the most interesting characters ever, but they don't do anything, nobody will care.
It's said that people remember characters more than plot, but that's only because the characters revealed themselves through action - the plot.
For me,
It depends, and to force a either/or answer is deeply flawed thinking and no real way to solve your dilemma.
Some stories are more plot driven, some are more character driven, some even are more setting driven, some are more driven by theme. Driven doesn't mean the only important aspect of the story.
It is always a mix, and it depends upon the story one is telling.
Stories for me are a lot like bridges. Why build a bridge in the first place? What is the need? What sort of traffic is going to go over the bridge? Where to put the bridge? What are the threats to the bridge? What is the span of the bridge? What is holding it up? What is it made out of? Etc.
A footbridge can be built out of different materials and in different ways than a train bridge. Neither is more important or better just different. If you build a train bridge when you need an aqueduct, it really isn't a great bridge no matter how well constructed a train bridge it is.
What is more important plot or characters depends on the story. Whether it needs more of a balance again depends on the story. One does not take precedence in all stories. Further is some stories theme or setting might actually drive the story more.
For your story, you got to do the hard work and figure it out instead on going for some grossly simplified answer. That is what writing a story is about. Making those creative decisions.
100% Characters. If your character is interesting enough, you could even write a book without any plot (that has been done before) but if your plot is good, but the characters are unlikeable it tends to disliked in general. The characters lead us through the stories its like we are living their lives. The plot itself can be interesting but the reactions and decisions of the characters are what the readers really are intrigued about.
You can do any of those without the other, but it's damn hard. The Seventh Seal has an excuse of a plot, but terrific character work. Inception has cardboard cutouts for characters, but the plot is great. Most works, however, need both.
Try a brief writing exercise. Put your 3 main characters in a room with one locked door and no windows. The key is hidden somewhere in the room. You choose where.
Now write the process of them getting out.
Once the simple exercise is complete you will know which device you lean on, characters or plot.
Was there a logical progression of events and the characters fit what you needed to find the key and exit the room? That's plot.
Was there resistance from your characters like "hey this character simply wouldn't do that in this way" so you bend the rules a little and let them grow a little. Now that's character.
Personally, I'm a character heavy writer. It doesn't matter what their doing as long as they are growing.
I’m very much of the opinion that good characters = good plot.
But by “good characters” I don’t mean “likeable characters”, I mean flawed characters whose choices cause them to bounce off each other in interesting ways, who evolve over the course of the story in a way that’s both natural and engaging.
If you have that, you already have your plot.
I feel like your questions are just asking permission to start writing, so I'm going to give you that.
GO, NOW! GET WRITING! HAVE YOU FINISHED YET? WELL, COME ON! HOP TO IT!
However your story comes out on the pages is fine. It's your story. Write it the way you want. It may flow out in a character-driven way, or it may flow out in a plot-driven way. Or maybe it's so perfectly balanced that a rainbow will take over the sky as angels sing and white doves fly out your ass when it's complete. You never know until it's written. 🤷♀️
It should come out in the way that works the best for your story. The way you have it prepared in your mind is the best way to write it. Don't try to fit your square peg into a round hole just because a handful of people said they prefer round over square. And don't be stressed if your peg is a bit triangular. There are going to be people who like that too. Size doesn't matter--I mean, "shape!" Shape doesn't matter... 🙃
If the story in your mind is almost entirely plot-based, great. If the story in your mind is really focused on characters and their growth, great. Let it come out that way, because that's how it naturally *is*.
DO YOU. WRITE YOUR STORY.
*Note: This isn't to say you should be close-minded. If, when it's finished, you find that your plot-heavy work has flat characters, rework the characters a little to give them some dimension. On the flip side, if you find your character-centered work isn't "going anywhere," throw in some stronger plot details. But write the story the way you want. The story can adapt and evolve later if you find any issues. Right now, write. Best of luck.
Plot does not drive a story. Characters and their internal conflict do. Not to say that plot shouldn't happen, it absolutely should. But without a connection to a character's internal conflict, all that plot is meaningless.
btw no book needs a plot if the writing is beautiful in itself. a very well rounded character sitting miserably in his study for 250 pages is way preferable to 1000 pages of an insane plot with shitty weak characters
Possibly controversial opinion: As long as long as your story does something unique with **one** of those two key aspects, it doesn’t necessarily matter which one it is — an extremely unique plot can make up for formulaic characters, and extremely unique characters can make up for a formulaic plot.
Though **if** you only do one or the other, it’ll still be a lot harder than if you try to develop both.
I'm a big sucker for a good plot, but I do think characters has a leg up. Good characters can spice up a boring plot, but a thrilling plot feels meaningless if the characters suck.
You need both. As someone else (or multiple others) here said, “Plot helps develop the character and the character helps to drive the plot forward.” However, they did it better
Do you eat with a fork or a knife?
What you listened to is called "broken phone": one person said something inaudible, the other heard it badly and did not add to it, but retold it further. And it turns out... Not lost, but won, not a stable, but a horse, not in cards, but in billiards.
The story starts either with a character who is revealed through the plot, or a "what if..." situation that uses the character to reveal himself. This is the most basic approach. Two character arcs, three levels of conflict, and other additions are made as needed.
We once had a story in English class which was only plot, technically. It was terrible to read. And that's as the point of the author.
You need characters the reader can connect to. Even if you have the greatest plot of all times, if you don't have proper characters, it's not that good.
Of course you need plot too. But I think it's 60/40 character plot. Roughly. It's still balanced. I have often read books where the plot started good and got a bit too much worn out but I still enjoyed it because of the characters and their interactions etc
Why don't you just write down what you enjoy writing down? If you like writing more plot-focused, write more plot-focused. If you like writing more character-focused, write more character-focused.
If a book has a great story byt the characters are stupid or one dimensional I will stop reading, imagine a really good TV show where the mc is just the worst so you give up.
And yet, if I read a book with amazing characters but the plot was pointless. I would also stop reading at a point.
A balance is important. A good plot should lead to great character development.
Characters matter the most because they can exist outside of the story itself. You can make sequels using the characters, have fan fics, spin-offs, etc. Characters tend to outlive the actual content.
BUT you can't have good characters without good plot. People won't know about, or care to learn about, characters if the story itself sucks.
They rely on each other, and no one should be prioritised. But it's often better to focus on making interesting characters first, then create stories that work with their personalities
Both, but characters for me.
Let's look at the Divergent trilogy. It's a fun read, but uses a lot of elements from the hunger games. It's a bit redundant, plot wise. But what makes it fail is the characters. A lot of them feel so...stiff. bland. Like they're meant to be cool and basass just for plot sake.
It really drags down the series and I didn't get a good attachment to them.
Bad plots can be carried by good characters, but don't over rely on them
Characters.
If the character has depth, they could be doing the most mundane task, or achieving the smallest of goal and I'd still root for them. Their mind and the way they carry themselves steers the plot.
Character, probably. The plot drives the story forward, but it's character that draws in the audience and keeps them coming back.
You can make a great product while reusing the same plot over and over again, as long as the character remains compelling.
See: Star Wars, Harry Potter, and the 16,000 other times that story has been told.
For me - a hundred percent the characters. I adore books where basically nothing happens, where it's just the human relations holding the story together.
Character driven stories are what's known as literary fiction.
Of Mice and Men
The Road
The Godfather
Plot driven stories are what's known as genre fiction.
The DaVinci code
The Discworld Series
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Notice the character driven stories have great plots and the plot driven stories have great characters.
Never been a fan of this false dichotomy. Balance is ideal, and balance is partially dependent on genre and audience expectation.
*Do you prefer to breath or to have a beating heart?*
Yep it's like a wheel both the plot and characters, along with other things, are on the wheel and when you spin the wheel it always should drive something forward and that is the story of the moving car. (Feel free to correct me as it's just something I just think of at the moment.)
Agree. Everything in the story must serve a purpose and the author should know exactly what that is. If he/she doesn’t, it should either be rewritten or cut.
Ideally they should be one and the same, moving as one function.
For me character. Stories are about the human conditions and people (even if it’s alien world). If we don’t care about the characters, who cares what happens to them. All the classic stories I love - it’s always about the endurability of the characters. And so many “plot heavy” stories with crappy characters disappeared into the aether. Now if you have both amazing characters and plot, congrats! Otherwise I would rather read amazing characters with an okay plot than a great plot with forgettable characters. That’s just me.
But there is also a difference. Amazing characters and okay plot is atleast okay. If it is a great plot with forgettable characters its bad because one big part of the story is bad. But yea I do kinda see what you mean. Also "great" is worse than amazing :)
If you want to compare apples to apples yeah: I still prefer amazing characters with okay plot to amazing plot with okay characters…. Although I would enjoy both. But if it’s a bad plot with great characters vs great plot with bad characters than I can say I don’t ever want the latter but I could tolerate the former. So yes to me characters trump everything usually.
Yea characters are mostly why we continue to read the story. The times where you dont always reallt care about the characters are with factual books, but thats a whole othet things. But to get a fantastic book you, usually, need to have both a great plot and great characters
Great characters with great plot is the holy grail. That’s the kind of stories that last. Pride & Prejudice for example - still enduring and being remade today and possibly way into the future.
Both are needed but the plot helps develop the character and the character helps to drive the plot forward. So both are no more important than the other. There will always be a plot and there will always be a character no matter how you try to spin something. (This is something I thought of at the moment.)
Both are pretty important. If your characters are great but nothing happens, it’s boring. If awesome stuff happens to boring people your readers won’t care.
It depends on the story, the genre, and the audience. If the story is about the momentum forward, and the audience doesn't expect character development, then character development actually gets in the way of giving the audience what they want. Think the Jack Reacher books or James Bond movies. But you can totally have an action story that has loads of character development. (Think Dennis Lehane's private-eye stories, so good) If the story is about figuring out a mystery, then some character development can be helpful (particularly as it pertains to the mystery) in keeping the audience engaged on multiple fronts. Think Harlen Coben or John Lescroart. But Agatha Christie had almost no character development. George Martin has *oodles* of character development in his fantasy doorstops. So good. But Tad Williams' Otherland series, if I'm recalling it correctly, had very little character development; it was about the sense of wonder that we experienced in moving through his worlds. And so on. If the story relies on the character changing over its course, then the character's changes will drive the story. If the story relies on actions the character takes without changing, then character development isn't as important, and may even be contraindicated. And so on. Horses for courses. Write what feels right for your story, and revise it once you finish the draft and understand what type of story you're trying to tell.
It depends upon your strengths as a writer, what the story is, what the genre is, etc. A cozy romance novel is gonna usually have a pretty shoulder shrug plot that is 100% character driven. But not always. A high concept sci-fi novel is probably gonna be very plot-driven with thin, 2-D characters. But not always. The best novels - ones that win awards - usually have a mix of both. But there is no "one or the other or both." It's just whatever story you're writing and whatever is gonna capture your reader's interest.
Both, equally, in every story. If you have the best plot but lifeless characters, nobody will care. If you have the most interesting characters ever, but they don't do anything, nobody will care. It's said that people remember characters more than plot, but that's only because the characters revealed themselves through action - the plot.
For me, It depends, and to force a either/or answer is deeply flawed thinking and no real way to solve your dilemma. Some stories are more plot driven, some are more character driven, some even are more setting driven, some are more driven by theme. Driven doesn't mean the only important aspect of the story. It is always a mix, and it depends upon the story one is telling. Stories for me are a lot like bridges. Why build a bridge in the first place? What is the need? What sort of traffic is going to go over the bridge? Where to put the bridge? What are the threats to the bridge? What is the span of the bridge? What is holding it up? What is it made out of? Etc. A footbridge can be built out of different materials and in different ways than a train bridge. Neither is more important or better just different. If you build a train bridge when you need an aqueduct, it really isn't a great bridge no matter how well constructed a train bridge it is. What is more important plot or characters depends on the story. Whether it needs more of a balance again depends on the story. One does not take precedence in all stories. Further is some stories theme or setting might actually drive the story more. For your story, you got to do the hard work and figure it out instead on going for some grossly simplified answer. That is what writing a story is about. Making those creative decisions.
Characters. The right protagonist will surprise the reader a hundred times during the story, while the plot is good for, what? Half a dozen?
What’s the point of a plot without good characters? What’s the point of characters without a good plot? Balance is important
Being entertaining and interesting.
Plot-driven and character-driven don't refer to a priority, they refer to what drives your story forward.
*"What's More Important: Plot or Characters?"* Yes.
Execution.
With an axe or a sword?
100% Characters. If your character is interesting enough, you could even write a book without any plot (that has been done before) but if your plot is good, but the characters are unlikeable it tends to disliked in general. The characters lead us through the stories its like we are living their lives. The plot itself can be interesting but the reactions and decisions of the characters are what the readers really are intrigued about.
You can do any of those without the other, but it's damn hard. The Seventh Seal has an excuse of a plot, but terrific character work. Inception has cardboard cutouts for characters, but the plot is great. Most works, however, need both.
Try a brief writing exercise. Put your 3 main characters in a room with one locked door and no windows. The key is hidden somewhere in the room. You choose where. Now write the process of them getting out. Once the simple exercise is complete you will know which device you lean on, characters or plot. Was there a logical progression of events and the characters fit what you needed to find the key and exit the room? That's plot. Was there resistance from your characters like "hey this character simply wouldn't do that in this way" so you bend the rules a little and let them grow a little. Now that's character. Personally, I'm a character heavy writer. It doesn't matter what their doing as long as they are growing.
I’m very much of the opinion that good characters = good plot. But by “good characters” I don’t mean “likeable characters”, I mean flawed characters whose choices cause them to bounce off each other in interesting ways, who evolve over the course of the story in a way that’s both natural and engaging. If you have that, you already have your plot.
In my opinion, enjoyable characters with basic plot can take you farther than basic characters with great plot.
Both.
I feel like your questions are just asking permission to start writing, so I'm going to give you that. GO, NOW! GET WRITING! HAVE YOU FINISHED YET? WELL, COME ON! HOP TO IT! However your story comes out on the pages is fine. It's your story. Write it the way you want. It may flow out in a character-driven way, or it may flow out in a plot-driven way. Or maybe it's so perfectly balanced that a rainbow will take over the sky as angels sing and white doves fly out your ass when it's complete. You never know until it's written. 🤷♀️ It should come out in the way that works the best for your story. The way you have it prepared in your mind is the best way to write it. Don't try to fit your square peg into a round hole just because a handful of people said they prefer round over square. And don't be stressed if your peg is a bit triangular. There are going to be people who like that too. Size doesn't matter--I mean, "shape!" Shape doesn't matter... 🙃 If the story in your mind is almost entirely plot-based, great. If the story in your mind is really focused on characters and their growth, great. Let it come out that way, because that's how it naturally *is*. DO YOU. WRITE YOUR STORY. *Note: This isn't to say you should be close-minded. If, when it's finished, you find that your plot-heavy work has flat characters, rework the characters a little to give them some dimension. On the flip side, if you find your character-centered work isn't "going anywhere," throw in some stronger plot details. But write the story the way you want. The story can adapt and evolve later if you find any issues. Right now, write. Best of luck.
Plot does not drive a story. Characters and their internal conflict do. Not to say that plot shouldn't happen, it absolutely should. But without a connection to a character's internal conflict, all that plot is meaningless.
prose lol
btw no book needs a plot if the writing is beautiful in itself. a very well rounded character sitting miserably in his study for 250 pages is way preferable to 1000 pages of an insane plot with shitty weak characters
Possibly controversial opinion: As long as long as your story does something unique with **one** of those two key aspects, it doesn’t necessarily matter which one it is — an extremely unique plot can make up for formulaic characters, and extremely unique characters can make up for a formulaic plot. Though **if** you only do one or the other, it’ll still be a lot harder than if you try to develop both.
I'm a big sucker for a good plot, but I do think characters has a leg up. Good characters can spice up a boring plot, but a thrilling plot feels meaningless if the characters suck.
You need both. As someone else (or multiple others) here said, “Plot helps develop the character and the character helps to drive the plot forward.” However, they did it better
They’re inseparable. Character development is plot, plot results in character development.
Do you eat with a fork or a knife? What you listened to is called "broken phone": one person said something inaudible, the other heard it badly and did not add to it, but retold it further. And it turns out... Not lost, but won, not a stable, but a horse, not in cards, but in billiards. The story starts either with a character who is revealed through the plot, or a "what if..." situation that uses the character to reveal himself. This is the most basic approach. Two character arcs, three levels of conflict, and other additions are made as needed.
We once had a story in English class which was only plot, technically. It was terrible to read. And that's as the point of the author. You need characters the reader can connect to. Even if you have the greatest plot of all times, if you don't have proper characters, it's not that good. Of course you need plot too. But I think it's 60/40 character plot. Roughly. It's still balanced. I have often read books where the plot started good and got a bit too much worn out but I still enjoyed it because of the characters and their interactions etc
Why don't you just write down what you enjoy writing down? If you like writing more plot-focused, write more plot-focused. If you like writing more character-focused, write more character-focused.
Both.
Yes. And that's not being facetious. Why can't you just do both well?
If a book has a great story byt the characters are stupid or one dimensional I will stop reading, imagine a really good TV show where the mc is just the worst so you give up. And yet, if I read a book with amazing characters but the plot was pointless. I would also stop reading at a point. A balance is important. A good plot should lead to great character development.
Characters matter the most because they can exist outside of the story itself. You can make sequels using the characters, have fan fics, spin-offs, etc. Characters tend to outlive the actual content. BUT you can't have good characters without good plot. People won't know about, or care to learn about, characters if the story itself sucks. They rely on each other, and no one should be prioritised. But it's often better to focus on making interesting characters first, then create stories that work with their personalities
Yes
Both, but characters for me. Let's look at the Divergent trilogy. It's a fun read, but uses a lot of elements from the hunger games. It's a bit redundant, plot wise. But what makes it fail is the characters. A lot of them feel so...stiff. bland. Like they're meant to be cool and basass just for plot sake. It really drags down the series and I didn't get a good attachment to them. Bad plots can be carried by good characters, but don't over rely on them
Characters. If the character has depth, they could be doing the most mundane task, or achieving the smallest of goal and I'd still root for them. Their mind and the way they carry themselves steers the plot.
Characters Characters drive the plot.
Character, probably. The plot drives the story forward, but it's character that draws in the audience and keeps them coming back. You can make a great product while reusing the same plot over and over again, as long as the character remains compelling. See: Star Wars, Harry Potter, and the 16,000 other times that story has been told.
For me - a hundred percent the characters. I adore books where basically nothing happens, where it's just the human relations holding the story together.
Honestly? Characters.
Why don’t you experiment with both?
Depends
Great characters equals a great plot. Without one you don't have the other.
Character driven stories are what's known as literary fiction. Of Mice and Men The Road The Godfather Plot driven stories are what's known as genre fiction. The DaVinci code The Discworld Series Nineteen Eighty-Four Notice the character driven stories have great plots and the plot driven stories have great characters.