What does 'character driven' mean?

IMO, "character driven" means that the main conflict of the story is interpersonal--conflicts between individuals. Whatever else is happening in the story, the root of the problem is conflict between individual people.

DeleyanLee said:

IMO, "character driven" means that the main conflict of the story is interpersonal--conflicts between individuals. Whatever else is happening in the story, the root of the problem is conflict between individual people.

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Not sure I agree with that, at least not completely. I consider my stuff to be character-driven, but generally there's a mystery to be solved. The way the mystery gets solved is determined by how the characters deal with each other, so maybe it's a gray area?

As for what I mean when I use the term: the extent to which the reader cares about the central conflict depends on how engaged the reader is with the characters (and how much they care about the central conflict).

Character driven means the story is driven by the "character" of your characters. Plot driven means the story is driven by the next action in the plot. Does you character drive the plot or does the plot drive your characters.

I always think of "character driven" as being more about how the character changes as a person through the story. Compare page one with page "the end." How are the characters different? What have they learned? How have they grown up?

Let's see how many different answers we can come up with.

To me, a character driven story means the character drives the plot. A plot driven story is where the plot drives the character.

MythMonger said:

To me, a character driven story means the character drives the plot. A plot driven story is where the plot drives the character.

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+1.

"If i told you a story is character driven, what would you expect from it?"

More talk, less action?

Character-driven stories are those where the conflicts and the resolutions are driven by the characters themselves, not by the world they inhabit. They are really stories about people, not about situations.

Layla Nahar said:

"If i told you a story is character driven, what would you expect from it?"

More talk, less action?

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If only it was that simple...

Cephus said:

Character-driven stories are those where the conflicts and the resolutions are driven by the characters themselves, not by the world they inhabit. They are really stories about people, not about situations.

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I guess I've been mislabeling my stuff. Except I still think it's character-focused...maybe that's not the same thing.

All character-driven means is that the plot is propelled forward by the actions and decisions of your characters, and makes sense. Personally, I believe character drives plot and plot drives character. There is also a third way as described in Story Trumps Structure and that is stories should be tension-driven.

Layla Nahar said:

"If i told you a story is character driven, what would you expect from it?"

More talk, less action?

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No, because the best books even if it's a thriller full of explosions-and-shit should be character-driven. Character-driven doesn't mean the MC spends half the novel contemplating Satre, it means they are propelling the plot forward through their own intentions and decisions.

gothicangel said:

No, because the best books even if it's a thriller full of explosions-and-shit should be character-driven. Character-driven doesn't mean the MC spends half the novel contemplating Satre, it means they are propelling the plot forward through their own intentions and decisions.

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It's not just that, though, is it? There's also a sort of underlying the-reader-is-reading-because-of-the-character-more-than-(or-at-least-as-much-for)-the-plot thing happening.

Take Robinson's Gilead. One reads that for the characters, because the characters are glorious and flawed and marvellous and because and their interactions and effects on each other drive the story - but you wouldn't say there's no plot. There is so much plot - but is not the one thing you read for. You read less to know what happens in plot terms than to stay in touch with what happens for the characters - because you know them, and love some of them and because they are hitting you where you live.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilead_(novel)

mccardey said:

It's not just that, though, is it? There's also a sort of underlying the-reader-is-reading-because-of-the-character-more-than-(or-at-least-as-much-for)-the-plot thing happening.

Take Robinson's Gilead. One reads that for the characters, because the characters are glorious and flawed and marvellous and because and their interactions and effects on each other drive the story - but you wouldn't say there's no plot. There is so much plot - but is not the one thing you read for. You read less to know what happens in plot terms than to stay in touch with what happens for the characters - because you know them, and love some of them and because they are hitting you where you live.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilead_(novel)

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This. The plot and character are not mutually exclusive. Good books should do both well. Where I draw the line (and we all do differently as this thread shows) is that in character-driven stories it matters LESS who wins the battle/who stole the artwork/if she gets the girl in the end and MORE what the characters experience as these events unfold. Taking your Gilead example, I remember most that he has some sort of sad unresolved issues with death. In Murder on the Orient Express, I remember an unsolved murder. In Lord of the Rings, I remember trying to get the ring to the mountain to destroy it. All three books have characters and plot, but what the books are about differ in whether they are about the situation or about the people.

As far as what I expect in a novel that is considered character-driven, I expect the growing relationships between characters to be a big focus, almost as though relationships are the key to the whole thing.

I consider things like action movies to exemplify plot-driven stories. They can have strong characters, or not, and those characters might be arguably driving the plot or not, but very few action movies focus primarily on relationships. In a character-driven story, in addition to character being important, I do expect a focus on relationships.

I agree with Mccardey. I know it’s important to have active, not passive characters. And, assuming I’m not wrong about this, active characters actively make decisions that affect their outcomes, which would affect the plot. So then both plot-driven and character driven novels would center around MC’s that make decisions that drive the story. Would the difference then be the extent to which the characters themselves versus the world around them moves the plot? Similarly, I would think all novels, regardless of if they’re plot-driven or character-driven, would have at least some character development. As in, what goes on throughout the novel/what choices the MC makes changes the MC. Once again, I wonder if this would be a question of the extent to which the MC changes.

So, I think whether a novel is plot-driven or character-driven really depends on whether the author and reader are more concerned with the plot or the character. Which is secondary?

As far as what I expect in a novel that is considered character-driven, I expect the growing relationships between characters to be a big focus, almost as though relationships are the key to the whole thing.

I consider things like action movies to exemplify plot-driven stories. They can have strong characters, or not, and those characters might be arguably driving the plot or not, but very few action movies focus primarily on relationships. In a character-driven story, in addition to character being important, I do expect a focus on relationships.

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I consider 'character driven' to mean that the story and world become backdrops of the character's struggles and transformation. The movie 'Passengers' I believe is a good example of this.

I think of character driven stories as being more on the literary fiction end of things. It's not just about whether or not there is an inner journey. Most stories, even at the more plot-driven end of things, have some focus on an emotional journey and have characters who undergo internal changes.

But with strongly character-driven stories, there is generally far less emphasis on external events and their effect on the character's choices and growth and more emphasis on that inner journey, on character interactions, and on a protagonist's emotional transformation.

With plot-driven stories, characters can certainly have transformations, relationships, and internal struggles, but there is generally a goal they have that is strongly driven by external events. Their transformation happens as they struggle to meet that goal, even if their actions also influence the plot.

With character-driven, the character's goals may be more nebulous, at least initially, and their emotional state is much more at the center of the story or plot. I'd argue that Camus' The Stranger is almost entirely character driven. It's been a while since I read it, but as I recall everything that happens to the protagonist is a direct consequence to his own actions and choices, and his own emotional landscape and personality really is the story.

It seems to me like most genre fiction stories will be more plot driven. But plot vs character driven exist on a spectrum. In speculative fiction, elements related to a fictional society or culture can certainly be things a character struggles with internally and provide a context for their emotional profile and transformation, and a character's personality and values will certainly influence the plot. But for a story to be on the character-driven end of the distribution, I think the struggle must be at the story's center, rather than the internal struggle being mostly a consequence of a series of external events.

The SF novel The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet is sometimes described as character driven. I suppose that might explain why some readers complain that there doesn't seem to be much of a plot in that novel, or that the plot meanders too much or seems sort of trivial, with so much of the story about the experiences of the characters and their interactions with one another. The inner journey of these characters, and what they learn about themselves and about one another, as they complete a voyage is most central to that story.

I suppose the original Blade Runner movie would be an example of a SF story that has strong elements of both plot and character driven-ness. There are external events that drive the core of the story--the escaped replicants--but the protagonist's (and the replicants' themselves) inner journey and transformation is critical as well--there would be a much, much shorter and simpler story without that element. Contrast this with Star Wars, which is more plot driven. Yes there are character traits that are important, and there are certainly transformations that are important, but the tale is very much driven by external events.

Note, I am not a literary expert, and I could be wrong here. Maybe there is some official definition that is very different from what I am trying to get at. It would be good to know for sure, because sometimes editors or agents say they are looking for "character-driven" genre fiction, and it would be very helpful to know if a particular novel or short story is a good fit for them.

Let me throw my 2 cents in. When I hear " character driven" ,I think of the actions of the MC's and what you EXPECT them to do next.

My creative writing professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Craig Bernier (back in 2016) hated plot driven stories, and genre fiction in general. He would always say, "No dragon fiction in my class." So a character driven story is a story that focuses on the development of characters as people. For example let's say we have a story at a party involving a couple of people going through a breakup. The story follows them through the party in which they make choices and grow as characters.

Let's add a large drug bust and a swat team crashing the party, following a narrative plot arc. Now you have a plot driven story. Think of a short story with some poor dude strapped to a bomb, and the bomb squad's rescue of that victim--its a plot driven story. You don't really get to know the people in a natural setting.

An easy way of thinking of this:

Taking a character out of his or her natural habitat, and introducing a crazy plot setting, like in a horror movie. Plot.
Leaving a character in their natural habitat, and introducing other characters that bounce off one another, and who make choices based on their interactions, character driven.

With genre fiction you usually see both, with plot driving the story.

For me, character or plot driven is a matter of emphasis. I wouldn't want to read a story with one and not the other; a good tale needs both (along with a compelling world... but that's another topic).

Characters chatting with each other without movement or purpose would be impossible, just as a plot without (or with very bland) characters would be.

I believe that when the plot drives the characters forward, that's plot driven, and when the characters are more important than their voyage, that's character driven. There are extremes on both ends of this, and it seems to me that most novels fall somewhere in the middle.

mhdragon said:

For example let's say we have a story at a party involving a couple of people going through a breakup. The story follows them through the party in which they make choices and grow as characters.

Let's add a large drug bust and a swat team crashing the party, following a narrative plot arc. Now you have a plot driven story.

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I don't think that's a great example, sorry. Plot has to exist in a character-driven story, just as characters have to exist in a plot-driven story. There's a mistaken belief that a story where characters rabbit on about themselves will work if you call it character-driven and label it 'Literary' - but no - as Indianroads says, you need both. And you need something else as well - an understanding, as a writer, that the characters are going to do what they do and you need to clarify what happens in plot terms around that.

ETA: Is my opinion.

mhdragon said:

My creative writing professor at the University of Pittsburgh, Craig Bernier (back in 2016) hated plot driven stories, and genre fiction in general. He would always say, "No dragon fiction in my class." So a character driven story is a story that focuses on the development of characters as people. For example let's say we have a story at a party involving a couple of people going through a breakup. The story follows them through the party in which they make choices and grow as characters.

Let's add a large drug bust and a swat team crashing the party, following a narrative plot arc. Now you have a plot driven story. Think of a short story with some poor dude strapped to a bomb, and the bomb squad's rescue of that victim--its a plot driven story. You don't really get to know the people in a natural setting.

An easy way of thinking of this:

Taking a character out of his or her natural habitat, and introducing a crazy plot setting, like in a horror movie. Plot.
Leaving a character in their natural habitat, and introducing other characters that bounce off one another, and who make choices based on their interactions, character driven.

With genre fiction you usually see both, with plot driving the story.

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You almost got there with your first paragraph . . . then, did a turnaround in the second paragraph. So no to the second.

I don't know if this going to help any since I'm writing on the spur of the moment. But here goes. In a plot-driven story, the external events (plot) are going to happen. Your character is presented with a set of choices, often on-the-fly, for dealing with the plot events. Because of this character development is more limited even though those story events can and will affect your characters. The plot is in the driver's seat.

In a character-driven story more is happening internally to the character and the character shapes and sometimes even changes the plot through their choices and especially by how they make those choices. The character drives the story events rather than the plot driving the character.

But, either way, there is a plot to the story . . . iow, there is no story if nothing happens.