Plots are Cheap, But Characters Sell
Give those skeletons flesh, and watch them dance for your readers!
When I was a young writer, one problem I found myself having the most was concern over plot.
I would obsess for hours, even days, over whether my plot was the “perfect one” or if what I was trying to put together was complete balderdash. I would write the plot points over and over, spreading them out on index cards or using pages of a spiral notebook,. thinking one word, maybe one sentence different would make it a best seller and make all of my dreams come true.
Perhaps this is something you have been trying to deal with as well. Perhaps you, like me, have been caught up in that avalanche of disempowerment.
While plot is essential to the story, it is, frankly, not the end-all be-all solution to your quest.
Characters ARE the Arc!
What I, and many other seasoned authors understand is the characters within the story are the most important thing to concentrate on.
Character development has, fortunately, been something which has always come easily to me, but I know there are fellow authors who suffer from their difficulties in fleshing them out.
That really is what character development is all about. You have a framework of the character — the skeleton of them, so to speak — which contains the basics, such as their name, their age and other statistics like hair and eye color, their basic likes and dislikes.
But that is all those things really are. They are just the skeleton of the character waiting for you to add flesh.
The flesh comprises the many different minor additions you make to their biography. Who was their mother? Their father? What was the relationship with them like? Does it impact the story you are trying to tell? COULD it have a jolt?
What other relationships have they had? Can you think of their darkest secrets and desires? What are some things they would want no one to know?
Is there someone who knows those secrets and desires? Can you make them a part of the story, somehow, as well?
You see, each one of these tweaks you add to the known information about the character not only helps them become more real for you, but for the reader and can also give you the chance to make those things a part of the story, adding in many sub-plots.
Those are where the real meat and potatoes of your story lie.
Settings are Characters, Too!
Even the setting of your story is a character. Most authors may not think that way, but if you consider it yourself, you might find it helps add in an element to the story which the reader does not expect.
What is the setting? How are the characters reacting to it? What do they intend to accomplish in the story you are telling, and how can the environment surrounding those people change the way it happens?
This makes the setting seem even more real to your readers, sucking them further into the tale you are weaving.
So, again, while plot is essential, it is only the situation you are leading your characters through. The dominant story is told through their eyes. It is those people populating your story that your readers will remember the most, the ones they connect with the most.
The more you can flesh them out, the more chances you have of hooking that reader for a lifetime.
Keep striving to “be the best you that you can be” at this moment. Remember, no matter who you are or what you're going through, you are worthy of being loved. Don't let anyone teach you anything different.