Plot Vs. Character, Fairy Edition

Plot Vs. Character—Fairy Edition

First, let’s address the elephant in the room…or the blog. I’ve been gone for a really long time. It wasn’t intentional, but it was with a good reason. I’ve been working on the last book in my Enchanted Path series and being a final book in a series, it’s become a bit of a bear. More on that in another post. This one is a question I’ve been asking myself while working through (seemingly) endless edits.

Plot or Character?

I know people who prefer a story that is character driven—where the plot is solely there to advance the development of the character—and like a deep dive into someone’s (or many someone’s) emotions.

What is he thinking? Courtesy of Cottonbro Studios

Others prefer plot over character where the person (or persons) are a device through which the reader understands what’s happening. As a speculative fiction writer I tend to fall in the latter camp. I start a story with a problem or a situation and then I think about the best and worst people to deal with it.

Courtesy of Suzy Hazelwood

The pitfall of character stories is sometimes nothing actually happens, at least not beyond the character’s mind. On the other hand, when plot of all important, a story can feel more like the Perils of Pauline, jumping from one disaster to another with people you barely know.

As the title of this post suggests, I wanted to look at this through a fairy tale lens. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that fairy tales are plot driven. Sometimes the characters don’t even have names, just titles or occupations. However, those stories are also very good at getting to the point of who the characters are and what they have to overcome. Cinderella is good and in a bad situation. The Wolf is bad and hungry.

Having that spelled out means we can focus on what happens to these characters. If we switched out these characters with other people, other things could happen. Red Riding Hood would likely neglect the chores Cinderella does in favor of exploring the woods. If the Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk were stomping about the woods, he’d likely have ignored the three little pigs or smashed all three houses without a second thought. So, characters do matter in plot driven stories.

Longer fairy tales can be character driven. Alice in Wonderland follows the adventures of one specific girl and her development from bored pupil to a queen. Would the story have taken the path it did if Alice had been Snow White or even an older Alice? A lot of the story depends on Alice being who she is at a particular time in her life.

Would an adult just drink it? Courtesy of Naele Souza

I don’t know if any story can be called plot or character driven. A good story has both concepts playing with or against each other. Maybe it’s more a writer thing than a reader one. As a reader I hope to lose myself in a story with relatable characters and a plot that holds my interest. As a writer only one or the other starts a project.

How about you? Do you think character or plot is more important? Do you think there should be a distinction?

Bad Choices and the Epic Adventure

A couple of days ago I was reading a post on a blog I follow, Life in the Realm of Fantasy, and it posed the question about crisis points for a character. Her example was driving down a road where the signs are missing, but the character keeps driving anyway. I think of a fork in the road—one looks peaceful but long, the other ominous yet short. A character takes the short cut. If you have a minute, you should definitely read her post, Crisis and the Point of No Return—it’ll get you thinking. It certainly did that for me. Are bad decisions necessary for a good story?Try this story: Once there was a woman who received a mysterious letter in the mail. In it she was promised adventures and a great treasure if she agrees to participate in a game fraught with peril. She tears up the letter and says, “Do you think I’m crazy?” and continues with her day.It was a sound decision. Who in their right mind responds to letters from strangers promising prizes only if the participant agrees to danger? Maybe that’s why so many fantasy novels take place in the past—our modern minds imagine scams, conspiracies, and other rational explanations. The scenario only becomes a story if the woman agrees to the terms, which the everyday person would consider a bad idea. It’s what makes books, TV shows and movies so appealing.As a child, I was very practical. I got into trouble like any other kid, but I was rarely foolish. I saved that kind of thinking for my reading. In reading I was allowed to take the forbidden path and hunt for treasure. My books were about kids who jumped on their bikes after dark and headed for the haunted house in order to free some ghost from a curse. I watched the Goonies and thought they were nuts, but I was glad someone was crazy enough to poke in dank caves for me.Writers are pushed to make situations difficult for their characters. In fantasy, it isn’t enough that the protagonist has a speech impediment—she has to be the only person who can read the magic spell that saves the kingdom and do so without a mistake. Why does she have to do it? If any of us were presented with a similar situation, we’d hide under our beds until the crisis was over.So, does it follow that bad decisions lead to good stories? Maybe yes, maybe no, but sensible decisions rarely become novels.Any thoughts?Special thanks to Connie Jasperson, blogger for Life in the Realm of Fantasy, whose great post sparked an idea for my bloggers block!