For a long time, I thought I was no good at plotting a story. My brain just doesn’t work like that – I can’t outline a plot to save my life. Because of this, I figured I just wasn’t good at writing fiction. So I stuck to poetry, where I could just observe a moment in time and write about it. 

That was until I took a college class all about writing short stories. That’s when I learned about the difference between plot-driven books and character-driven books. I’d never heard of it before. For those of you who can relate, I want to share what I learned. 

A plot-driven story is exactly what it sounds like. You come up with a plotline (if you’re one of the lucky ones) and then outline accordingly. The characters in the story are secondary – they’re there to get to the specific points in the plot. Again, my brain does not work like that. 

Cue character-driven stories. Instead of starting with a plot for your outline, you create a character. In order for this character to feel relatable to readers, try to get as detailed as possible. Ask yourself all sorts of questions about them. 

• What do they do right when they wake up? 
• What do they desire out of life? Out of the day? 
• How does their age, gender, race, region they live, education, religion, etc. affect how they think or interact with others? 

Think about what they might look like, what piece of clothing might be their favorite to wear. Base your characters off of people in your life or other characters you love. Again, get as detailed as possible. 

The rest is simple. Not really, of course, but it is fun. Place your character (or characters) into a situation. Establish a norm for them and break it. Are they moving to a new town? Did they recently lose something that meant a lot to them? Or, establish something that they really want. What lengths would they go to to get what they want? 

Writer Vince Gilligan and his crew went through this process when writing their show Breaking Bad. You may have heard of it. They created a character named Walter White, a somewhat boring high school chemistry teacher, aka his norm. His norm is then broken when he discovers he has terminal cancer. Now he has something he really wants: to provide for his family once he’s gone. And the lengths he goes to to achieve that want? Making his own meth out of an RV with a former student. Boom. The beginnings of perhaps one of the most famously intricate and psychological plots in TV history. The writing team had one motto when building out the episodes: “Where is Walt’s head at right now?” They based the entire plot off of the extremely human character they created, and proceeded to live in his head for the entire writing process. 

So, if you want to write a book but can’t come up with a plot to save your life, think of a character. Observe the people around you. What about them interests you? Use those observations to build out a character that’s interesting to you. Place them in a new situation or give them something to desire and see how it plays out. And finally, don’t be afraid to take it places you never expected.