How do you balance character development with the advancement of your plot?
How can you develop characters to even execute your plot, unless you first start out with a plot?
The answer is, both character and plot are developed in tandem.
Every story, whether it’s a thriller, a fantasy, realistic, literary, mystery, or science fiction, is in some way about the private inner life of characters.
So there’s going to be some central, evolving concern, or problem that your character must deal with. And the story is about is the actions, the suffering, the pain, the missteps, and the victories of the characters.
In other words, character and plot are bound together. You can’t really work on them separately.
So in this episode, I’ll give you 5 checkpoints to help you develop both character and plot.
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Episode at a glance:
[01:04] Developing a plot to fit characters may seem to be putting the cart before the horse. But structure is not something you should impose from the outside in unless you want an off the rack story.
When you plot first, things happen to a major or central character. But they’re only connected by the fact that it’s that character they happen to.
[02:56] What is character? What is plot? And how are they bound together?
[03:31] Checkpoint 1. Do your characters evolve out of a point of view? Learn what elements create a strong point of view, and how to establish each character’s POV.
[04:59] Checkpoint 2. Does your character have a clear concrete goal? Character is action, but action is driven by an ardent desire. Your character has to want one specific concrete thing that’s driving him or her through the plot.
[07:53] Checkpoint 3. Is there a clear obstacle interfering with your characters goal? This is the trouble that makes up your plot.
[09:50] Checkpoint 4. Do you make a claim for a character (she’s careless, he’s manipulative, untrustworthy, etc.) that you aren’t demonstrating? This is a matter of show versus tell. Always give the narrative evidence.
[12:30] Checkpoint 5. Do all of your characters have a story function? Does he or she contribute to the development of the plot? To the development of the protagonist’s inner conflict? If not, either give them more purpose and presence, or cut them from your story.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Episode 158: A Different Approach To Writing First Drafts
Bernard Malamud: The Complete Stories
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