Would you consider plot or characters most important to a story?

Q&A With Shay Each Sunday


This week I’ll be doing a follow-up question to my blog post from many weeks ago on “What is the most important component of a book?” I had said the writing is what’s most important in creating a story, but this week I’ll go into what comes next.

Q: Would you consider plot or characters most important to a story?

A: This is a really difficult question because I honestly kind of feel like they are equally important. I guess I would have to say it depends on what kind of story it is that you are writing. With a more internal type story, the characters are more important to develop as thoroughly as possible, because they are the focal point—their development and growth as people is the story. This is more of a coming-of-age type story, or one that deals with self-discovery, or a family issue coming to light, or probably, a romance. These types of stories are more about how the characters are interacting with one another rather than how they’re interacting with elements of the outside world.

With a more external type of story, I would say plot is more important because the reader is looking more at “what will come next/what’s going to happen?” as it pertains to the outer situation in the world. They won’t be asking “how will this person grow?” in that type of story quite as much.

My novel Fractured (coming 2020!) is more of an internal story. It’s a coming-of-age young adult and the characters are the central focus. My first novel (though won’t be published first) Crashing Waves is more of an external story because it’s a YA suspense, so the plot plays more of a role in that one. Though that could change as I get back to revising because there were a lot of plot holes, and actually I realized the character development in that book was very poor in earlier drafts…which brings me to my next point.

Obviously, and ideally, as writers we want to obtain a great balance of both characters and plot, and the appropriate balance within the scope of the type of story we are writing. I feel that more often when I read I’m looking for fully authentic and believable characters though. I hate when it feels like the character is simply a stereotype of a kind of person rather than an actual person within that stereotype…right? There are also a lot of plots that are executed amazingly, and I’m particularly a big fan of the thriller genre, where we’d be paying most attention to the plot. But, I think I’m usually more let down if the people in the story don’t feel real and fully imagined to me, so for my own personal preference, I’ll say I look for character development first and foremost.

BUT…I can’t stand plot holes either.

So, all the elements that go into creating a world are pretty equally important, in my opinion. We might all have our preferences as readers, but in writing we can’t create it halfway. And as one of my professor’s at SLC said, “It’s very hard work to imagine a world correctly.” Make sure your characters and plot are both strong and you will have a story people want to read—regardless of genre.

Do you think one component of the story is more important than another?

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