How do YOU write a character-driven story?

[Cyke]

I feel almost naive when I ask this question, but I've been writing for some time and I still don't feel confident that I have a grasp on character-driven stories. Does the narrative depend on characters' choices? Interactions? What would they do to advance the plot? etc. etc. etc. I'm up to 40,000 words in the nanowrimo contest, and I'd like to do a bit of a mixup as opposed to all the character insight and activities I've been doing.

Basically, I'd like to compare notes with anyone here who would be willing, in our little CBR writing community here.

[Hieu Le Bui]

watch more Battlestar Galactica and less of Star Trek. :D

[polystyleneman]

First of all, any good story should be character-driven in my opinion. Take some time to develop your characters, even if you don't use all the info you develop. What is their background? What is their motivation? What conflicts are they struggling with? What do they need to overcome? Are the a flat/static character, or are they a rounded character that experiences a progression as the story develops? Be careful not to make your characters cliches. Superman works as a Christ-like, do-gooding cliche because he pretty much embodies the archetype, and perhaps even defines it in modern comic, but most of the time writing a relatively one-dimensional character provides thin drama and a lack of richness.

Decisions characters make can create a lot of character-driven drama. What does a character do when faced with a difficult decision? What ramifications does it have for other characters when a wrong or selfish decision is made? Tension is often created while a character is trying to make that decision.

Villains can also easily fall into the one dimensional trap. Why do the villains do as they do? More often than not they have their own rational or justification for what they do. Perhaps they feel something is owed to them. Perhaps they feel that the world would be better off if things were run their way.

Anyway, I don't know what it is you are writing or what you are struggling with, these are just some random thoughts.

[Cyke]

First of all, any good story should be character-driven in my opinion. Take some time to develop your characters, even if you don't use all the info you develop. What is their background? What is their motivation? What conflicts are they struggling with? What do they need to overcome? Are the a flat/static character, or are they a rounded character that experiences a progression as the story develops? Be careful not to make your characters cliches. Superman works as a Christ-like, do-gooding cliche because he pretty much embodies the archetype, and perhaps even defines it in modern comic, but most of the time writing a relatively one-dimensional character provides thin drama and a lack of richness.

Decisions characters make can create a lot of character-driven drama. What does a character do when faced with a difficult decision? What ramifications does it have for other characters when a wrong or selfish decision is made? Tension is often created while a character is trying to make that decision.

Villains can also easily fall into the one dimensional trap. Why do the villains do as they do? More often than not they have their own rational or justification for what they do. Perhaps they feel something is owed to them. Perhaps they feel that the world would be better off if things were run their way.

Anyway, I don't know what it is you are writing or what you are struggling with, these are just some random thoughts.

Random thoughts are good, since my efforts right now are all random save for the fact that it's one set of characters. And everything you've mentioned is very much appreciated.

I'm writing a novel (well, more like a novella) for National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org), and the goal is to hit 50,000 words between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30.

The good news is: it's Nov. 19 and I'm at 40,000 words. Since I'm ahead of schedule by a few days, I think I can actually afford the time to do some real fleshing out now and explore different methods of getting forging a few chapters based more on character interaction. Many of my chapters deal with exploring the characters' minds and quirks and negative and positive traits, but actual interaction has been every so often. I've fallen a bit out of practice when it comes to the narrative form (I've been focusing much more on non-fiction and poetry), and one of the reasons why I joined the contest was to get back into the story-groove of things.

So right now, I've got 17 chapters under my belt with some pretty well-fleshed out characters, one protagonist, a supporting cast of six, and an antagonist, and so far, it's been about how each one lives their lives and how they compare/differ in each approach. This wasn't the original concept when I started writing the novel, but hey, since it's basically a 30-day freewriting session, anything was bound to happen.

[Distorted Humor]

The "easy" way to make a Character driven story is as follows...

1) You must develop character(s) - this means that as you write them, they have there own thoughts, and act out those thoughts in a logical manner.

2) The Character hits some sort of conflict, normally between individual wants/needs and group/society group needs.

3) The character Grows/changes due to the conflict.

4) Finally, when you have characters that grow in such a way that there/their growth drives the narrative, instead of events causing character change, you get Character driven storylines.

[Berserk]

The "easy" way to make a Character driven story is as follows...

1) You must develop character(s) - this means that as you write them, they have there own thoughts, and act out those thoughts in a logical manner.

2) The Character hits some sort of conflict, normally between individual wants/needs and group/society group needs.

3) The character Grows/changes due to the conflict.

4) Finally, when you have characters that grow in such a way that there/their growth drives the narrative, instead of events causing character change, you get Character driven storylines.

I think you did a good job of hitting all the major points. Any good story, especially if it's a novel, takes the reader on a journey along with the main character. The main character should encounter challenges throughout the story and those challenges end up changing them, either for the better or for the worse, depending on where you wanna go with the story. Sometimes you can start off with a character that is evil and as the story goes along they change their ways and become a good person but the other characters might still treat them badly because of that character's past actions. So, that creates a lot of conflict and emotional pain in the main character which will make him or her more identifiable with the reader, since we've all felt misunderstood at some point in our lives. If the main character doesn't go through a major change by the end of the story then it's not a well written story in my opinion.

[Cyke]

The "easy" way to make a Character driven story is as follows...

1) You must develop character(s) - this means that as you write them, they have there own thoughts, and act out those thoughts in a logical manner.

2) The Character hits some sort of conflict, normally between individual wants/needs and group/society group needs.

3) The character Grows/changes due to the conflict.

4) Finally, when you have characters that grow in such a way that there/their growth drives the narrative, instead of events causing character change, you get Character driven storylines.

Thanks for the input. Down the line:

1. I've got this one down, I think, well enough that I can start some really good character interactions

2. I think my problem here is that I'm focusing too much on one conflict and waiting for the right time to end it. What I would need, then, are some smaller, more contained conflicts, or at least strengthen my subplot (and now I realize how important they are.

3. Another problem that I think you've helped me identify: while I do intend on having a few characters grow, I think since I have only one true conflict between two people, that that'll be the only real source of growth. If I make more use of your second point, it'll help strengthen the third point.

4. Gotcha.

Again, thanks so very much for mapping that out. I feel a bit more confident now.

[Cyke]

I think you did a good job of hitting all the major points. Any good story, especially if it's a novel, takes the reader on a journey along with the main character. The main character should encounter challenges throughout the story and those challenges end up changing them, either for the better or for the worse, depending on where you wanna go with the story. Sometimes you can start off with a character that is evil and as the story goes along they change their ways and become a good person but the other characters might still treat them badly because of that character's past actions. So, that creates a lot of conflict and emotional pain in the main character which will make him or her more identifiable with the reader, since we've all felt misunderstood at some point in our lives. If the main character doesn't go through a major change by the end of the story then it's not a well written story in my opinion.

Well said and very duly noted. The thing about this contest is that it's focused purely on word count and not really quality, which actually helps alleviate some of the pressures of standard. But then once the contest is over, I can go back and edit/add as much as I want. I know that after I hit 50,000, I'll be checking back every post in this thread.

[Black Atom]

Looks like everyone hit the major points. The only input I could have is to avoid cliches. This is probably obvious, but subconsciously we tend to regurgitate cliches we've seen in fiction. Try to think about how someone would really react to the conflict and get a varied perspective. Think about how you might react, or your sister or your dad.

[mattx110]

Unlike reality, the world revolves around your character. DH didn't do a bad job of outlining the points.

You're probably already doing this, but plotting out scenes in your head with some nice dialogue, so that you have an idea of how to set up your major climax scenes when you get to them. Unless your main character is a death-mute kickboxer who doesn't understand language, the way you show who the character is, and how they've changes, is in dialogue, or a monologue.

[Cyke]

Looks like everyone hit the major points. The only input I could have is to avoid cliches. This is probably obvious, but subconsciously we tend to regurgitate cliches we've seen in fiction. Try to think about how someone would really react to the conflict and get a varied perspective. Think about how you might react, or your sister or your dad.

Eventually, I'd like to try and take a cliche and turn it on its side, if only for the sake of experimentation. It's not that I'm too cool for school, but I figure, on a project like this where the emphasis is on number and not the quality of the first draft, it'd be an opportunity to do a fun exercise.

Unlike reality, the world revolves around your character. DH didn't do a bad job of outlining the points.

You're probably already doing this, but plotting out scenes in your head with some nice dialogue, so that you have an idea of how to set up your major climax scenes when you get to them. Unless your main character is a death-mute kickboxer who doesn't understand language, the way you show who the character is, and how they've changes, is in dialogue, or a monologue.

The first few chapters tended to be dialogue-heavy, but the majority of the chapters every day since then have been about descriptions and ideas, so I think it would be about time now for me to get back into writing dialogues. If anything, a balance with the dialogue is probably what I need right now.

Actually, it hadn't crossed my mind yet to do a monologue. An impromptu monologue could be pretty fun to write out, especially if things are just happening in a chaotic, haphazard kind of way for this project.

[Cyke]

Quick update: Because of the posts in this thread, I think I'd like to go back and write another chapter set between two chapters that i've already written. If anything, it would help me at least set up a stronger conflict between the protagonist and some characters that haven't been in the story in a while. Like all good novels, almost everyone ties back to the protagonist. Then, in a future chapter, I could escalate the action later on and give everyone a legit reason to be concerned.

That's right! I've got my first retcon! Woo-hoo! Thanks everybody.

[mattx110]

Quick update: Because of the posts in this thread, I think I'd like to go back and write another chapter set between two chapters that i've already written. If anything, it would help me at least set up a stronger conflict between the protagonist and some characters that haven't been in the story in a while. Like all good novels, almost everyone ties back to the protagonist. Then, in a future chapter, I could escalate the action later on and give everyone a legit reason to be concerned.

That's right! I've got my first retcon! Woo-hoo! Thanks everybody.

Now we can all be elitist purists and say "we liked it before it made more sense". And just think, "what would shakespeare do?". characters talked to themselves, went mad, all sorts of crazy stuff. From what you've posted, it sounds like it's coming along fine. Of course, my appraisal is based on your talking about your work, and not your work, so if some editor starts yelling at you, don't give him my phone number and say "it's his fault, he told me he liked it like this."

[Cyke]

Now we can all be elitist purists and say "we liked it before it made more sense". And just think, "what would shakespeare do?". characters talked to themselves, went mad, all sorts of crazy stuff. From what you've posted, it sounds like it's coming along fine. Of course, my appraisal is based on your talking about your work, and not your work, so if some editor starts yelling at you, don't give him my phone number and say "it's his fault, he told me he liked it like this."

Hah! Believe me, I'll protect everyone's identities here. All faults are mine.

Anyway, I'm not planning for this work to get published. I just want to get some practice in, which is why I entered this contest. But if I ever decide to go back and polish it for, say, graduate school, at least I've now got some considerable ammunition from everyone here to fix it up.