Yesterday, I showed my partner Mama Mia Two: Here We Go Again, a film where I told him “The plot doesn’t happen to the characters, the plot saves itself from their shenanigans.” And I think that is the essence of a character-driven story, i.e., it is a story which is driven forward by the character’s choices, their flaws and habits and triumphs, and their personalities.
While no character has 100% autonomy, character-driven story is the closest thing to that, and it ca be made even stronger in my opinion, by using the technique of narrative presence- something I learnt about from a video on Thor in God of War that my husband introduced me to. But that is a topic for a follow up blog, should that ever happen.
Today, let us look at Character-Driven Stories.
Before that, I am a ten-times published author, who has won an award for her research in genre hybridity, and numerous accolades for her literary work, currently doing research to see how climate fiction can be a non-propogandist tool for factual and emotional climate awareness and action.
Still here? Yipee!
Now that we are convinced, all except my imposter syndrome that is, that I have something worth listening to, let us dive into the topic.
What is character-driven storytelling?
As I put is, it a story in which the character, not the plot, is in the driving seat. Think, First Avenger, Mama Mia 2, Iron Man 3 etc.
While in many stories, the characters are faced with certain circumstance and how they deal with it and whatever else the story throws at them makes up the story, in a character-driven story, the focus is more on the “how the characters deal with the problems’ rather than the problems themselves. Often it can dive deep into what motivates these actions, the psyche of the characters and so on, though not every story is a deep look into the psyche of the character. But character-driven stories are the result of the personalities and choices of the cast of characters we have. Change the people and the story changes.
Let us understand with an example.
Say, it is not Steve Rodgers but Tony Stark who is the hero of the First Avenger. The movie simply doesn’t happen because Steve’s personality was what drove the plot. Him jumping on the grenade, him choosing to go ahead with the experiment despite the shooter, him rescuing Bucky despite orders and so on. While the plot does throw things at Steve, he throws himself at it harder.
Plot Driven Narratives
On the contrast, look at a story like Jurassic Park. While the character’s choices do have a huge impact on the story, the story happens to them. We root for the characters and many have rightfully said the characters drive us through the story, replacing them with a bunch of others will likely have much less effect on the story, except maybe more people will die and the dinos might escape. Yet, it is not the choices of the main cast, but the creation of the park, “life finding a way”, the creatures breaking free, them getting trapped in the park, and such events that make up a majority of the cause in the cause-and-effect cycle of the story.
In plot-driven stories, the character’s personality traits rarely matter as they are often a passive protagonist and the story happens to them. While not all plot driven stories have passive flat protagonists, I would say that is one easy way to make a plot-driven story. On the other hand, in our character-driven story, the character makes active choices and that is what changes the trajectory of the story, even with flat characters like Steve Rogers or dynamic characters that change in the course of the story.
In fact, an argument can be made that it is also easier to write character-driven stories using flat characters as they are often set in their way. To change a characters’ choices and worldviews, things must happen to them- common in a plot-driven narrative- and yet, character-driven narratives often catalogue this change and growth in characters.
Examples of a Character-Driven Narrative
After all, Tony Stark made the choice to shut down the weapons manufacturing. He chose to continue as Iron Man. And given his personality it was inevitable that he would choose to say “I am Iron Man.” And this a character dynamically changing. Him getting kidnapped? Just an inciting incident which also happened due to his choices regarding protection. While he goes from reckless to responsible, with a dash of reckless, the story is a result of his choices and actions.
Steve Rodgers throughout the First Avenger stays the same, a paragon of virtue and righteousness, a good friend, a responsible hero, and someone who doesn’t play by the rules if the rules are unfair. Despite not changing much, his choices drive the story as we have seen.
Let Your Characters Drive Your Story
So, all I have to say? Put your characters in the driving seat. Let them call the shots. Let their personalities clash, their traumas flare, their wisdom shine. And the consequences of their actions will build you a character-driven story.
After all, would we even have Mama Mia if Donna hadn’t chosen to chase a dream in rural Greece?
Author’s Note: Thanks for reading, hope this helped! To read more of my work, you can head to Muses_Saga: Eco-Friendly Publishers to read my poems and prose without paywalls or check out the store.