Many of the best novels—those that will enter the canon rather than be sold for a nickel at a garage sale—are character-driven novels. Character-driven novels center on well-developed characters with whom the reader can connect and empathize. Plot-driven novels too often utilize flat characters because these undeveloped characters are the only ones that can easily be pushed around by a too-carefully outlined plot.
The Character-Driven Novel Begins with the Character
The author of the character-driven novel begins with a character. The character may be someone the writer imagined. Alternatively, the character may be based on a person observed or overheard at the grocery store, a coffee shop or on the subway. With this character in mind, the writer begins drafting a series of character sketches devoid of setting or conflict. Frequently this is done in a journal or notebook with no intention for the sketches ever to have any reader besides the writer. This is the getting-to-know-you phase of writing a character-driven novel.
Tricks to Developing Characters
For the writer that is having a hard time getting to know his or her characters through drafting character sketches alone, a helpful trick is to pick up a collection of forms and applications around town or online. Filling out these forms for the character being developed goes a long way to fleshing-out a complex protagonist or antagonist.
For example, a job application might ask for the applicant’s work history, computer skills or any continuing education experience. The answers to these questions may have nothing to do with the eventual plot of the novel, but knowing the answers makes it easier to write about the character. The more details the writer knows about the character’s biography, the easier it is to make the character believable to the eventual reader.
Place the Fully-Developed Character into a Setting
Once the writer has fully developed one or more characters using the above techniques, it is time to place the character or characters into a setting. Rather than going for something dramatic like a car accident or 1920s murder scene, it is often best to place the character in a common setting the reader knows well like a coffee shop or a classroom. Because the writer knows the characters so well by this point, the writing is a matter of observing and recording what the characters do based on their experiences and the biographical details the writer has already “learned about” the character.
Look to Authors of Character-Driven Fiction Like Ernest Hemingway and Raymond Carver
While it is not important to have anything “happen” in the scene, some writers may become uneasy with how little appears to be going on. It may be helpful here to read some Ernest Hemmingway or Raymond Carver stories to see how much can happen when nothing appears to be happening. Furthermore, the scene being written probably won’t ever see another reader, so the writer needn’t worry if the prose is not “exciting enough.”
Finding the External or Internal Conflict
As the scene carries on, a problem or conflict usually emerges on its own. After all, any person interacting with another person (or even just with his or her environment) long enough will eventually run into a situation that causes an emotional response and alludes to either an internal or external conflict.
Once the writer finds this conflict, he or she may have found the plot, which will begin to unravel itself to the writer while remaining firmly driven by the character. Once the scene is finished, the writer can begin revising the passage and, finally, start building the novel around this one very believable character with whom any reader will readily empathize.
Additional Tips and Tricks
The "Snowflake Method" to Writing a Novel
How to Start a New Piece of Fiction
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