The Craft of Writing | Plot and Character 2 by Randall ‘Jay’ Andrews
I want to go back to my favorite irritating subject – the characters! You have heard me preach time and time again that the plot is what drives the story, even in the heavy “character driven” stories, a story without plot isn’t a story, and you can’t just write a story about characters and come up with a plot because everything before you made the decision was pointless. Argue with me all you want but you don’t go into writing scenes for a living with the idea that your characters will dictate the story.
Let’s dispel one myth right now. Your characters don’t write themselves and they don’t control the story. The truth is, YOU control your characters. The reality is, if characters really did have their own autonomy, like life, they would avoid conflict. That’s the natural order, and because of that, your story would be incredibly pointless and rather boring.
You as a writer need to be proactive with your characters and the scenes they are in. You need to get away from what might, or could, or should happen, and concentrate on what MUST happen. In fact, if you look at a scene and can honestly answer, “Yes, this scene, if omitted, wouldn’t change the story, then it should be omitted. Every scene needs to build towards the plot. (Mind you, character development, if done properly, does build toward plot.)
Other questions to ask yourself; does the scene happen in the right place, does it take off after the last scene appropriately, are all the characters in the scene necessary? (This is bigger than you think. When writing with more people in the room, the more tags are necessary to keep voices straight. The less characters you have, the more intimacy between characters.) Also, where is the scene? Sometimes the location, even though you don’t give it much thought, can be vital to setting up something. A couple on a date while hunting for grouse says a lot more about the characters than if you have them go to the movies. (PUN INTENDED; it’s killing two birds with one stone!) Expect the unexpected in your scenes. Nothing is more dramatic than to have something incredible happen in the middle of the mundane. Your dating couple stops for a burger and finds a finger under the bun. Know what your ending needs and your scene’s locations and events can develop from that, as well as your dialogue.
Of course, another peeve of mine when I’m editing is the scene which goes on and on, and it should have been a third the length. KNOW your scene length and don’t add to it because it looks too short. A chapter is seldom too short, even if it’s only a page, but it is often too long.
If you are an out-liner, outline in short scene set ups. Danny is in the room with Kate. Danny needs to find his shoe because those shoes have the imprint on the sole that will set up the investigation into his guilt. Kate will nearly ruin it and will second guess herself later in the book. They leave, but being a gentleman he opens the door, and therefore touches the doorknob. Her fingerprints are nowhere. By knowing these things, you can show the scene happening and the reader won’t suffer from suspension of believability later on because you set it up.
So this takes up back to the characters. If you write a tight script, the actions and words coming out of the characters are YOUR words and actions. You are the one who has fun with it; you are the one who ultimately gives them those quirks that writers swear are the characters taking on their own life. Because you are a writer and because you’ve learned many different personalities over the course of your writing, you give the characters a richness that surprises you. You might take a person you know and use their idiosyncratic behavior to pattern a character, you may do the same with looks, but you must remember, ultimately, you are in control and in that control you need to set up your scenes and where they are going and what the purpose is, and your characters are the puppets to the marionette – YOU.
