I love reading novels where characters’ faults or virtues play a role in determining their fate.
Take me, for example. I did something stupid on Wednesday that could have taken my day on a completely different trajectory, had I been unluckier than I was. I went to the grocery store to get some of the ingredients for the breakfast casserole on the food blog.
It was already raining, but lightly. I hate carrying things around with me, so I impatiently just hurried into the store without my umbrella. When I came back outside, it was pouring. Most people were intelligently waiting near the door for the rain to let up (which it did in about 3 minutes.) But….I was impatient again and dashed across the pedestrian crosswalk. Note: I did not have my children with me. I tend to use my brain a lot more when they’re around.
It was raining, I was in a hurry, and a young man in a car was, too. He tore out of the parking lot area, swerving left toward me as I ran for my car. He slammed on his brakes and I froze like the proverbial deer in the headlights. I looked at him—pale 20-something with a goatee and a shaken expression, still holding a cell phone to his face. I rested my hand on the hood of his car.
Now, let’s look at this as far as plotting goes. Both my impatience and the young man’s put us in the situation. But what got us out of it? If he hadn’t been as young as he was, maybe his reflexes wouldn’t have been quick enough to stop on a pin like he did. Honestly, his reflexes were a lot faster than mine—I could only stop, not even try to avoid the car.
What are your characters’ virtues and vices? Are they stubborn? Naive? Are they nosy? Do they have an inferiority complex or a superiority one?
What are their characteristics? Do they think quickly on their feet? Are they meticulous? Gifted? Slow? Adventurous? Shy?
It’s interesting to think that you could take one character out of a plot situation, plug in a different character and have a completely different situation happen. What if a distracted mommy had been driving the car that nearly hit me? What if I’d had road-rage (on-foot rage?) and angrily pulled out a gun when I was almost run down? What if I’d been a child and too small for the person to see me?
The next time I get stuck with a plot problem, I’m going to play around with this scenario a little. Maybe I’ve just got the wrong character in the situation. Perhaps the scene was meant for a different character.
And I’m going to start carrying my umbrella.
Nice discussion. I’ll have to pay closer attention to characters and how their every action may drive or advance the plot. I hate when books add extraneous action/dialogue/etc. that seems like only padding.
This is a great post. Thought-provoking. Also, you scared me with that story. I demand you not hurt yourself! Or allow any cellphone-chatting person to do it. :0)
Anyway, yeah. Characters should affect the situation they’re in. Plus, they should act…not predictably, but typically. If that makes sense. Maybe “characters being true to themselves” is a better way to put it. Once the readers gets to know the character, they should be able to read a certain scene and think, “Yeah, that’s what they would do. I can see that.” Otherwise it’s not believable.
Did I infer correctly that you take a gun to the grocery store? Tough neighborhood!
So glad you are okay. Amazing that you could turn a scary situation into an idea for better writing. Kudos to you!
Karen
Great post. You’ve definitely illustrated what character driven means. Glad you’re ok!
Great post! I’m adding this one to my Characters Folder in Favorites. I think you’ve just fixed my plotting problem.
Geez, Elizabeth. That’s a frightening story. Don’t like to hear about that. BUT, you sure used it to great effect to illustrate exactly how different reactions can drive different plotlines. Nice analogy. I’m revising just now, and so far my characters are okay. There are maybe a few things I will do to increase their arcs, but I think just a bit of tweaking will make that happen. Nice post. Tweetable…and I will.(Grin)
Best Regards, Galen
Imagineering Fiction Blog
Lovely post. I do what you did more often than I would like to admit, but haven’t frozen in the headlights yet. Time to stop.
And putting a different character in a scene that is not working? Waiting to hear how it actually works for you in practice.
What a useful lesson! I know that one of my weaknesses is that my characters tend to procrastinate for too long.
A few weeks ago I read a post about a writer who had written two manuscripts which he could not sell because the main character was too much like himself. Then he realized that protagonists should act, not think, and his next manuscript was a success.
I tend to write character driven stories and I love this great way of looking at the outcome of a scene. The ending IS totally dependent on the characters involved. I’m glad your story had a happy ending.
This is fabulous! I think it is especially useful for thinking out a short story plot, which is something I’ve always had trouble with (not being able to get to the point and all).
And I love how you turn a scare (that probably shook you up and was clearly not fun) into something productive.
I like this subject and your posted ideas on it. My last novel, Owen Fiddler is totally character fault driven. The dude is one great big fault but he doesn’t think anything is his fault – lol.
The Old Silly
What a scary situation. That’s an interesting thought you put forth – that perhaps the wrong character is involved in the scene. I don’t think most of us would consider that a different character should be brought in. Thanks.
I almost got run off the road yesterday. A big suburban pulled into my lane. I had to lay on my horn and try to get over without going into the lane next to me. He too was talking on the phone. Didn’t even put it down.
Helen
Straight From Hel
Since my book are very character-driven, I rely heavily on their strengths & weaknesses.
And glad he didn’t hit you!
L. Diane Wolfe “Spunk On A Stick”
http://www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com
http://www.spunkonastick.net
http://www.thecircleoffriends.net
Book Bird Dog–Me too. I get really disgusted when I feel like someone is acting out of character. Because in REAL life, our character determines our reactions.
Galen–Thanks for the tweet! And, great post today on the software for story-boarding plotting.
Carnimire–My thoughts are that it wouldn’t work as well to substitute a protagonist for another character. It think it would work better to change around a secondary character (substituting a drunk driver for my goatee’d driver, or a 16 year old inexperienced driver, etc.) That way we could play around with event outcomes, if they don’t work well the first time in a scene.
Jane–Thanks! Hope it helps.
Jack–I’m being a LOT more careful now. Wake-up call for stubborn Elizabeth! I hate books and movies where I’ve grown to respect the protagonist and then they do something stupid that I think is out of character, just to further the plot. In a situation like mine, I think you’d have to make sure the reader still identifies with the protag–that even though I’m usually a smart person, I can occasionally behave irrationally…and run out into a busy parking lot. I think it’s hard to do. I was VERY irritated with myself, but have to live with me. A reader could get disgusted enough to put down a book.
Hart–Short stories are toughest. I had someone ask me to write a short story the other day and I turned them down. I can only write 75,000 words, not 3000! :) But I can see where this method might help.
Alan–Lord, I think I WILL start packing heat! Oh well, at least the incident served to shake up the dude on the cell phone. Maybe he’ll slow down a little (and I will, too.)
Marvin–Now that’s interesting, Marvin. I grapple with protag faults a lot. Do your readers identify with Owen? I never know how far to go w/ protag faults.
Helen–I think a substitution might be the quickest way to reorganize a scene and outcome. Isn’t the cell phone thing awful? I saw someone texting as he drove, a couple of days ago.
Diane–Thanks! Me too…
Karen–Oh, my legs barely carried me to my car after that. I sat in my car for at least 5 minutes, getting my breathing back to normal. I was one scared little rabbit. But then I thought about all the variables in the situation and what if we’d played around with them…it would make the episode completely different.
Thanks, Laura. :) Me too. And at least it gave me a couple of insights on how behavior and personality flaws can determine event outcomes. Interesting side note…my husband said he heard on the radio news yesterday that bus drivers in Boston now have to honk their horn before making a left hand turn. Apparently they’ve hit 7 pedestrians in the last year there…
Glad you found it useful, Deb. Good luck with your plotting.
Dorte–Interesting, though. Maybe their procrastination and inability to act could actually function AS an action. You know the old saying, “indecision is a decision.” The only problem with that is you’re in danger of having things happen TO your character instead of them being the instigators. That might make them weaker…
Everything I write is based on my favorite premise of “people are people” regardless of the time period of the story. Everyone has their good points, their bad points and their own priorities. I think writing perfect people would be boring!
Your little tale is just one more piece of evidence that you shouldn’t drive a car and use a cell phone at the same time! Cursed things, anyway.
Another good post, and a good premise for telling an effective story.
Thanks, Martin! I appreciate your stopping by.
I agree with Dorte when she stated that this was a very useful lesson in character development and character driven plots. I had not thought that deeply about how the character traits can be both vice and virtue. Very interesting and will definitely take this into consideration as I am writing.
Elspeth–Perfect people ARE boring. And they irritate me because they make me feel wicked. :)
I’m with you on the cell phones. People need to hang up and drive…
Chary–Good luck with your writing and your new school year! Hey, I went to your blog today and think there might be a problem with the word verification thingy there. Just a heads-up…
That was something positive from a negative! It has made me think a little more about character blocks, thanks.
Glynis–Hope it helps. Thanks for popping by.