MishaI wasn’t following a complex story because it’s so brilliantly mapped out. I was following it because I care about the characters.
Lately, I’ve been into epic dramas, in particular Chinese dramas. These stories are seriously complex. Everyone is vying for power, usually a throne, and nothing silly like murder is going to get in their way. There are alliances hidden within imperial palaces, multiple kingdoms at play, sometimes mystical entities get involved. There are turncoats—anyone can betray anyone! And lots of martial arts thrown in for fun. Oh yeah, and these stories are spread out over 60 one-hour-long episodes.
I’m usually confused when I start one of these long dramas, because I can’t figure out who is fighting who and what their beef is. They draw a lot on culture—characters offended for reasons I don’t really understand. Like, the way one person looks at another person can start a bloodbath, and my poor American mind wants them to chat it out. But by episode 12 (that’s twelve hours, people) I start to understand the plot a little. Am I exasperated the plot took this long? No. I’m more dismayed that it’s already 7PM and I still don’t know the protagonist’s real identity. Will I finally have to succumb to sleep at 2AM without knowing?
I’ve asked myself why I am able to stare at this one story for an entire day, English subtitles and all. Usually one character in particular compels me and I want to know them better. In this case, the protagonist is a young man whose life has been in danger since his childhood. His father, a powerful general, was wrongly accused of treason—and in those days, the whole family was executed. This kid got away and grew up living like a common peasant, often hungry and abused. But his heart remained pure and he even took responsibility for everyone around him.
Rather than going into a lengthy exposition of the main character, let me just say, if I can come back for 60 episodes to see what my little dude is up to, this author is developing him well. He is growing, he is changing, he is learning. He makes terrible, heart-wrenching mistakes, because his past has left him with deeps wounds, ridiculous character flaws, and an attitude of disparity. But these things, too, he overcomes, because he has collected the best friends in the world, each one also developed to be his perfect accomplice for various tasks.
As an author, I walk away from these kinds of stories wondering if I’m even willing to put that kind of time into mapping out people, events, magical concepts, etc. But then I realize, I wasn’t following the complex story because it’s so brilliantly mapped out. I was following it because I care about little dude and his friends. I love seeing him triumph over each progressively more powerful enemy. I love seeing how he inspires other characters to risk and be valiant. For them, I’m willing to suffer all the losses and triumphs along the way. I may even be able to write such stories!
So I’m setting a new goal: Build characters likable enough that you’re willing to go through anything for them. If we do that, we can seriously take them through all kinds of torment and triumph, and our readers will go right along with us!
Who is a character you’re willing to follow everywhere?
Julia N. White
Julane Fisher
Kristen Gwen
Good post and very good point. I’ve always been drawn to more character driven stories than plot driven stories. A great plot is very important but if the reader doesn’t care about the character they really won’t care about the plot.