Strengths of The Plot Driven Fiction Writer

Does you plot grow faster than your characters?
So far in this series, I have been exploring the strengths and pitfalls of the character driven writer. Now it's time to explore the journey of the plot driven writer.

As we do this, remember that both character and plot are necessary in fiction writing. Most of us are intuitively stronger with either character or plot ― but that strength can become a weakness if it overwhelms the writing process.

A page turner is great but ...

For plot driven writers a sign that your strength has overwhelmed the writing process is when the plot surges ahead, but your characters are undernourished. End result: you write a page-turning plot, but the reader doesn’t care about the characters. At best, this is the kind of book where a reader skims pages just to “find out what happens.” At worst, the reader simply doesn't care and puts the book aside.

Becoming aware of your strengths and learning how to develop areas in which you are not strong is a challenging task that has huge payoffs!

Strengths of the Plot Driven Writer:
1. You focus on logical thinking and rational analysis.
2. You have strong plots and can see the arc of the story.
3. You love action and suspense, and have an ability to make action come alive.
4. You have a strong desire to see the process through to the end and that helps get the job done!

Next: The Pitfalls of the Plot Driven Writer.

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