I’ve been reading books by self-published authors for a while now, and ove been writing for just as long. In all of that time I learned something about characters in stories. I found that there are two kinds of characters; there are characters who write the story, and characters who are written by the story.

Let me clarify. Characters who write the story are often characters with depth. They are characters whose personality and background weave into the tale and actually affect its outcome. They contribute to the intensity and Speer aging them from the story completely changes the tone, and direction the story takes. Meanwhile, characters written by the story are characters who are easily replaceable. Anyone could take their place because the story itself is the main draw. It won’t change no matter who is there.

Both types can be compelling, and a story can be interesting on its own, even if it isn’t character driven. However, in my opinion, a character driven story will make the characters more compelling and feel more alive. Often times, character driven stories have more raw emotion. Since the story itself revolves more around them, the character gets to shine, and it builds a lasting impression on both the author and the reader.

I realized in my own writing that I have both. Paranormal Frontier: Wild West primarily revolves around people hunting monsters, and it is told in such a way that I could put any character with any background against this monster and things would pretty much be the same. That doesn’t mean the characters are dull, they just aren’t the focus of the story. I could put any wise-cracking cowboy in any of the stories and get the same dialogue, same actions, and the same outcome. The characters background wouldn’t matter, because it isn’t relevant to the story. They are simply there to fulfill the role of ‘protagonist’

However, Paranormal Frontier: Burning West is different. The characters in that story have backgrounds, personalities, and even morality that is woven into the tapestry of the overarching narrative. Colin McCreedy is a character in the story with ties to the coven of evil witches who serve as the antagonists, so if I were to replace him with some random guy who hunts witches, it would drastically change the interactions depth, and significance of what happened.

I’ve read stories that write the characters, and I like some of the characters in those stories. I also dislike a few as well. However, I love the characters who write the stories, or sometimes, I hate them. Regardless, my feelings toward character in character driven stories are more extreme.

As an author, it is certain possible to make engaging stories that aren’t character driven, but I think that the true mark of a great author is how well they are able to write a story where the characters are the driving force. A true test of skill is how well an author is able to make us love the protagonist, how they are able to make us feel what the characters are feeling, and even how they can make us really want to see the bad guys stopped. Sometimes though, they might make a compelling bad guy that we want to see more of, because we know that that bad guy will truly show us the most interesting sides of our hero’s.

Of course, I’m talking about this from an action/adventure standpoint where it’s the protagonist vs antagonist. This logic doesn’t really apply to pure comedy or romance. Either way, I think that creating a character who writes the story for you is the difference between a good story and a great novel.

MJ Maddox
Visually Impaired Author
Tell me what you think. Do the best novels tend to be character driven? Or do the stories stand on their own regardless of who the main character is?