YOU REALLY SHOULDN'T BE LISTENING TO MY ADVICE ON THIS ONE
Hello my friends, time for me to attempt to explain this particular topic absolutely horribly, because I too, have no idea what the heck I'm doing.
What I can tell you is that I am absolutely, 100%, no holds barred, without a doubt, a plot-focused writer. If something is not happening in any single scene that drives the plot forward, I feel like it doesn't belong. I save the emotionally charged scenes for last and write the fight scenes first. I cower in fear of having to clean up well why does this character feel this way and why in the world would they do that? I dread the process of having to fill in the character-based gaps between plot points.
Because really, y'all, plot can't move forward without the characters. They are the heart of your story, the reason anything is happening. Sure, events can happen to your characters, but that makes for a real boring story no one is going to be invested in.
So how do I manage to balance the two? Badly, that's how. But I'll attempt to explain.
Using my 5-act structure that I detailed before (see: Plotting & Drafting), I'm able to not only plot out important story beats, but I can coordinate character development using those acts. Now, I don't get specific at all in this stage of plotting. I usually will give myself one or two sentences about where the character needs to be in their personal journey at that point in the book. I don't tell myself how they'll get there or why. That comes out during drafting, and usually changes throughout the editing process. Getting too attached to a certain method of development stifles your characters and doesn't allow them to grow naturally.
I said it before that I tend to leave the heavily character-based scenes for the end. And for the most part, I do.
With OBBT, there are two scenes in particular that I left towards the end.
The opening sequence where we are introduced to Kellan. Nothing important happens in this scene necessarily other than the fact we find out he's not allowed to fly in Spiral City. This was TOUGH for me to write, because I felt like I'd be meandering if I added it. But my editor loved it, and I've grown to love the scene as well.
A sequence in which Cassian and Pontius visit a career center Pontius supports. This actually does drive the plot forward a tiny bit, but at it's heart is a character-driven scene. We're here to get to know Pontius, and to get to understand Cassian's interactions with him a bit better.
To be honest, I didn't know I needed these scenes, which is why I left them to the very end. But my beta readers were having a hard time grasping why they should care about my characters, and that was enough to tell me that I needed to give them a reason.
And that's the heart of why writing character arcs is so important. Sure, plot is interesting and is the whole reason you might tell a story. But people aren't going to resonate, connect, or fall in love with your story if the characters delivering it are flat and uninteresting. Spend time with them, give them personality, and don't be afraid to show it in your story, even if nothing else is happening.
This was probably mostly incoherent, but I hope it made sense and resonated with some of you hardcore plot-focused writers. It's tough to balance the two, so don't be afraid to practice writing short, character-driven stories to work that character writing muscle.
Next time, we're going to talk about worldbuilding, my favorite part of the creative process!
*Kissy noises*,
-Tia