Character Driven or Plot Driven

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 155270


> >Hi Laura,
> >I would say that they're character driven, even though I don't 
feel
> >as if I know the characters that well. We read of what they do as 
a
> >result of events happening around them, but not enough in my
> >view of what they're like when not responding to 'outside'
> >stimulus.
> 
> I have thought so, too, but when I asked the same
> question of a few people who are teachers of English
> or otherwise knowledgeable about literature, they
> answered emphatically and without hesitation - plot
> driven!  I was curious to know if people who are
> more involved with the books would see them more
> as character driven, because that is what they spend
> a lot of time doing - analyzing character.  People who
> have only read them once or who have only seen the
> movies might consider them to be more plot driven.
> The movies certainly were plot driven.  In fact, that
> is what I really dislike about the movies - they sacrifice
> nearly all of the character development to concentrate
> on plot only.  However, I know this forum is not to
> discuss the movies.

Magpie:
I accidentally stuck my answer to this in the midst of a bigger post 
without marking it, so I'll answer it here.  They're plot driven 
(said without hesitation), with the characters often used (or 
created) to drive the plot. I spend a lot of time analyzing the 
characters, but that doesn't make the books character-driven to me.  

Laura:
> I agree with you.  I think the important thing is to look at the
> characters and to understand their motives, their feelings, and
> their actions.  It seems to me that the plot is there just to 
expose
> different facets of their characters, which would make the books,
> in my mind character driven.
> 
> But I can also see that people who have not immersed themselves
> in analyzing the characters might view the plots of each book to
> be more important.

Magpie:
It's the other way around, with the characters being there far more 
to make the plot work rather than the plot exposing the characters.  
You seem to be asking two different questions.  The first is whether 
the books are character or plot *driven*.  The second is which is 
more important, character or plot.  The second question is a 
personal preference, but immersing onesself in characters doesn't 
change what's driving the story.

Orson Scott Card has a way of breaking down stories into four 
different types: Milieu, Idea, Character or Event.  HP as a series 
is an Event Story, a story driven by something wrong in the world 
that must be made right, like the return of an evil thought to be 
dead (Voldemort).  Within that there can be lots of other types of 
stories going on.  The individual books are all Idea stories--
stories about a secret that's eventually revealed: Who opened the 
CoS, who's trying to steal the PS, what does Sirius Black want, who 
put Harry's name in the Goblet, what is Voldemort doing to Harry and 
what is in the room behind the door and what is Draco up to?  Things 
like that.  The characters being themselves is important to the 
story, but the stories are being driven by this stuff.  In fact, 
there's not a lot of character development if by development one 
means that a character develops and changes.  Most of the characters 
are known for the thing that is the essence of their character. 
Event stories don't actually need to have great characters--though 
many of them do, and HP is one of them. 

Still even character development is more often put across in terms 
of plot rather than a detailed study in the narrative. A change in a 
character is a twist.  Even Harry's love life is first presented in 
HBP as a mystery with clues to watch for, with little time 
dissecting his feelings. 

-m