The Push-Pull of Character and Plot

I’ve lost count of the number of books I’ve read on how to write. Many of these focus on things like, ‘How to create memorable characters,’ or ‘What you need to know about plotting.’

Yes, these are two distinct subjects, but neither of them exists in a bubble. They influence each other, and the canny writer won’t take either in isolation. I must admit that it took me a very long time to appreciate that fact.

Let’s examine this more closely by beginning with a plot element. Say a woman’s handbag is snatched by a thief. What happens next? Well, that depends, doesn’t it, on a number of factors. If the woman is nimble she might give chase. If she’s elderly she might call for help, or she might collapse in fright. It also depends on how essential the bag and its contents are to her. Let’s say it possesses the only photo she has of her late mother. Or her pension for the week. Perhaps she’s a visitor in the country and the bag contains her passport, ID, and money for the trip.

These examples serve to show how one incident can lead to multiple outcomes depending on the person involved.

Now, in the above examples, I’ve focused on fairly extraneous elements, such as the importance of the stolen item to the woman, and her physical fitness. But now let’s explore her character.

Regardless of whatever might be in the bag, perhaps the woman is too fearful to go chasing after the thief. Or maybe she’s very determined and chases after him regardless. Another option might be the woman is highly observant and she recognises a gang tattoo on the thief’s arm and she tracks him down. Whatever option you choose, you can see how the nature of the character can impact the events of the story and vice versa.

A character, just like a human being, is a composite of their physical makeup, their upbringing, their morals and desires, their fears and obligations, and their experiences. As a writer you don’t need to know all of these right from the start, but the way they respond to an emergency will tell you a lot about them. Indeed, if you are just in the planning stage of your story, putting characters in these sorts of situation will reveal them better than fifty pages of bland social interactions.

Another helpful exercise is to think of your favourite novels and imagine how the plot might have unfolded if the character were altered in some way. Perhaps Dorothy (The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum) was a whiny brat who saw nothing good in Oz and who made fun of the Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man. What would that story look like? Or, what if Dorothy was still sweet and kind, but the whirlwind never happened. How would the story have panned out?

What if Carrie White (Carrie by Stephen King) did not possess telekinetic powers, but went on to become a wealthy woman who systematically uses her riches and talents to destroy everyone who wronged her?

Now let’s take a slightly different approach. Imagine Harry Potter is a jerk, and his cousin Dudley is abused and bullied by the wizard-to-be: what would Dudley’s story look like?

People often talk about liking plot-driven stories, or preferring character-driven ones. And yes, some authors tend to emphasise one over the other. But as you can see, a really good novelist will make both elements work in tandem. It’s like a man on a bicycle: the pedals won’t work without a rider. Then again, the cyclist won’t get very far if the bicycle isn’t working.

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