Who Drives The Bus?

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Who Drives The Bus? Plot Or Character?

I examined a stack of classics this weekend. Twelve out of 13 began with the protagonist reacting to the plot, and the characters pretty much continue to react to the plot. WAR & PEACE by Tolstoy is the exception; there are simply too many prominent characters, and they keep the cauldron bubbling. Plus I cant name who the antagonist is. THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME is another example of this.

So I think the size of the cast determines who or what dominates.

 

[Liar]

I drive the bus.

 

[Gus Aspar]

If you haven't got plot, you have absolutely no hope of creating a story. You could argue the same for characters, I suppose, but plot is the skeleton that holds the body of a story upright.

 

[TE999]

In the immortal words of Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason): "I...I...um homma...homma...homma...I brive a dus."

The plot brives the dus, IMO.

 

[Weird Harold]

Who Drives The Bus? Plot Or Character?

I examined a stack of classics this weekend. Twelve out of 13 began with the protagonist reacting to the plot, and the characters pretty much continue to react to the plot.

I don't think those thirteen were necessarily "plot driven" just because they had a plot that the characters follow. Every story needs a plot but it is how the characters react to cliched plot devices that determines whether the story is character driven.

I read a lot of epic fantasies and most of them have the same basic plot that the characters are predestined to follow. At most there are five plots in all of the Epic fantasy genre, and what usually makes the difference betweena formulaic epic fantasy and a cult classic is HOW the characters react to the plot. There are a few (good) plot driven Epic fantasies but they are as rare as you think character driven "classics" are.

Science Fiction, especially the Military SF I seem to be reading more of lately, is more often plot driven -- or even background driven -- with stock characters put in interesting places and situations.

As a questionof Style, I prefer to concentrate on character development because I write primarily short stories and there's not much room for plot development.

 

[CharleyH]

I drive the bus.

I thought Otto did?

 

[ConstantineIII]

It largely depends on what kind of story you are trying to write. You can write a story that is plot driven. In this type of story, the characters don't really matter. They are stock characters that might have some interesting nuances, but the don't really make a difference since the plot is what drives the story. The reader doesn't really care about the characters so much as they care about what happens next. On the other hand, the character driven story still has a plot, often a really interesting one, but the ultimate draw of the story is what the character is like, how the character reacts to things, and ultimately what happens to the character. The difference is really thin, but it is there.

To my mind, the best stories are character driven because they give us a greater insight into our own existence as human beings. On the other hand, the plot driven stories are often the most entertaining because it gives people a chance to experience something that they might not ever experience. For instance, no modern individual would ever be able to experience the Battle of Thermopylae during the Persian war, so many people would love to experience that. Anyhow, those are my too pents.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

WH

I suppose it depends on which has the power to overwhelm the other. Something like TITANIC has to be plot driven becuz Jack & Rose cant change whats going down. SALEM'S LOT is character driven becuz Ben definitely puts the vampires outta business.

 

[Weird Harold]

WH

I suppose it depends on which has the power to overwhelm the other. Something like TITANIC has to be plot driven becuz Jack & Rose cant change whats going down. SALEM'S LOT is character driven becuz Ben definitely puts the vampires outta business.

I would assign exactly the opposite requirements; Titanic has to be character driven because there is no suspense about the ending.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Thats becuz you already know the ending.

 

[CharleyH]

How about the author drives the story?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

How about the author drives the story?

Heh! If theyre LIT authors they'll drive it into a ditch then pop-up here wanting feedback (translation: Points and a Plastic Trophy).

 

[Liar]

I thought Otto did?

Blew my cover. Gnarly.

 

[TxRad]

Heh! If theyre LIT authors they'll drive it into a ditch then pop-up here wanting feedback (translation: Points and a Plastic Trophy).

This from someone who has nothing posted on Lit.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

This from someone who has nothing posted on Lit.

I thought you had me on ignore. You dont seriously think I'd post under this nic, do ya?

 

[TxRad]

I thought you had me on ignore. You dont seriously think I'd post under this nic, do ya?

Nope, I've never had you on ignore. Sometimes you actually have something to say. Not to often but enough. As for posting under that nic, why sure you would. You're just that arrogant an asshole.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Nope, I've never had you on ignore. Sometimes you actually have something to say. Not to often but enough. As for posting under that nic, why sure you would. You're just that arrogant an asshole.

You just like for me to bitch-slap you occasionally.

 

[TxRad]

You just like for me to bitch-slap you occasionally.

Not in your wildest dreams...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Not in your wildest dreams...

I'm old, but fierce, you rascal!

 

[DG Hear]

I'm old, but fierce, you rascal!

I look foward to your posts. You make me smile. Get a kick how you try and get under peoples skin. Hell, I agree with you a lot of the time. Maybe because I'm an old fart too. haha Don't know about the fierce part.

My stories are almost always plot driven. In movies the actors aren't anything if they don't have a good plan (plot) to follow. That's why some good actors make bad movies. Need more than name draw to be good.

In our writing we need a good plot to keep the readers interested. You can only fuck so many ways, LOL

 

[Bianca_Sommerland]

I respect plot driven stories, must if I want to keep my reading options open, but as a writer it's all about the character. I sketch outline, I imagine characters. Characters take over, outline better change.

Maybe I'm a wimp, come to think of it. I just let the story happen Then stab my characters in the back, using their weaknesses against them.

Wimp or sadist. Hmmm...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I look foward to your posts. You make me smile. Get a kick how you try and get under peoples skin. Hell, I agree with you a lot of the time. Maybe because I'm an old fart too. haha Don't know about the fierce part.

My stories are almost always plot driven. In movies the actors aren't anything if they don't have a good plan (plot) to follow. That's why some good actors make bad movies. Need more than name draw to be good.

In our writing we need a good plot to keep the readers interested. You can only fuck so many ways, LOL

I just wrote a story about a woman lost in a state forest during a severe storm; she mires her car in a ditch and finds an isolated cottage.

On the drawing board is a story about an island near my home thats teeming with poisonous snakes and is a federal refuge for wild animals. They release wolves, pumas, etc. Humans rarely go there. A woman is marooned on the island when an airboat crashes in the Gulf a few miles from the island. But she's not alone there.

I do the plot first, then use my psychology training to pick appropriate protagonist-antagonist for the plot. In the island story I want to experiment with the roles each sex plays. Tarzan will be a tidge different than he usually is.

Its good to stir people up.