Writing Character Driven Stories
By: Laura Winter
Tags: Writing, Character, Character Development, Writers On Writing, Writer

Writing Character Driven Stories

Turning the wheel over to your characters to drive where your novel will go

Photo by Cristofer Jeschke on Unsplash

When you’re writing your story, do you prefer to focus on the characters or on the plot?

Well, it’s not entirely one or the other. Plot drives the story. It gives us tension and drama and a place for our characters to exist.

But characters make us feel. They give us someone to root for (or against). They develop and interact with the plot, molding themselves as they follow the yellow brick road of story direction.

Characters have to interact with the plot, otherwise we’d just have awesome people doing normal stuff. There’d be no conflict, nothing to develop the character. That’s why we throw in plot, obstacles, and consequences to action. Those things help mold the character into who they will be at the end.

The End… the elusive finish to your book. You might have an idea, but maybe you don’t. You might have a plan but it feels like you’re forcing your characters to follow a set path to the right when they really want to go left. Maybe to get there you have to force a character to do things they wouldn’t normally do.

There comes a point where your characters might have a better grasp on their own story than you do. Here are some ways to help you write character driven stories, or better yet, hand over the reigns of writing to your characters and give them power over where things will end up.

Connect with readers through realistic characters

Readers don’t want flawless characters. They would pass through the story without any issues, fighting the bad guy and prevailing on the first try. No, readers want to connect with the characters and become emotionally invested.

How does that happen? Realistic characters that have flaws and display unique personalities. Readers want to see themselves in the character. They want to imagine they are going through the same challenges and finding their own inner strength. They see someone they love and they want to root for the character that displays similar characteristics and emotions.

Interact with the world

There once was a man who was scared of birds. Birds exist only outside his house. Man never leaves house.

Well, that’s a boring story. Character driven novels should force the character into the world you’ve built. Make them do something. They need to interact with the world and be immersed in activities that will help shape them.

Man must go outside to put the trash away or get groceries. He makes it to the store without seeing a single bird (yay), but on his way out, a bird flies overhead. Does he drop the groceries and run? Does he use the food to defend himself? What interactions will he take to either withdraw or grow as a person?

Think of the worst, and then make it happen

What would your character strongly dislike or what do they never want to happen? Well, make that happen.

Consider the story above. The man is terrified that this bird will swoop down and attack him. So, what happens if it does? The bird swoops down, continually taking dives at the man’s head. He’s panicking…

Focus on the inner growth

What is your character’s biggest flaw? How can the character overcome that flaw, or at least use it to their advantage, by the end of the story? Those are the sorts of things that can help you figure out where the plot should be going or what obstacles it should present to your character.

Are there challenges that can help your character overcome their flaws or fears? Put them in. Let your character tell you what they don’t want to happen and then make it happen. Show their inner turmoil to finally gather the strength within themselves to overcome the challenge.

And now we see inner growth. The man above is panicking, terrified, unsure of what to do. There’s a moment of clarity as the bird stands between him and the car. But something changes. Is it a look of curiosity in the bird? There’s a small injury on it’s leg that prevents it from standing still, which is why the bird is constantly flapping and cawing.

The man realizes that the bird is just as terrified as him… because he’s hungry. Our man braves the little bird and offers him a slice of bread, inching closer to his biggest fear. Instead of screaming, the bird lets out a soft coo and accepts the bread without biting the man, flying off to a nearby tree where little birdies are happily waiting for food. Our main character learns that not all birds are bad, and they are only looking out for their survival. Inner growth.