During one of our group meetings several years ago, one of the members told me he thought I wrote like William Faulkner (Thanks, Norman!). This was a great compliment but I had mixed emotions about it. I love Faulkner’s characters – they are strong and well-defined. He develops and describes his settings so vividly it’s like ‘reading’ a photograph. And his books translate into really good movies! But I find him very hard to read, because he is absorbed in development while I want to get on with the story.

Yup, I write a lot like Faulkner.

My writing is character-driven.  I’m a people-person.  I go to football games, rallies, social gatherings to observe the other people who are attending. I watch mannerisms and dress, and listen to speech patterns. I’m also on sensory overload when setting the scene.  I want you to notice the fly on the wall, and the dust that the vacuum didn’t pick up out of the corner of the room. Many of my blogs concentrate on building identifiable characters and making sure  settings are authentic.

Sadly, when all this is done I often dump some of what I think is my best writing, because it isn’t relevant to the whole picture.

I struggle with plot.

The thesaurus reveals these alternate words for ‘plot’ – conspiracy, plan, scheme, subversion, design, intrigue, strategy, contrive, and connive.  Oh, my.  You’d think with that many alter egos, a plot would be easy wouldn’t you? No.  Even in real life, I have trouble contriving a plan of action. I drift along being reactive instead of proactive. I  metaphorically bury my head in the sand, hoping that whatever is happening will pass me by and leave me unscathed. It doesn’t work. Lack of strategy often hands me and my characters bruises, sprains, heartache and happiness without our active participation. And that’s what I write about.

However, there are many successful authors who write plot-driven stories. These are usually the ones that are made into action-hero movies.  They are fast paced, very visual, and require little emotional involvement.

When Alice encountered the Lion and Unicorn, she was puzzled. The characters were stuck in a poem that described the battle. No one knew why they were battling. The townspeople merely  did what was expected of them, word by word.  The author had a plan and they executed it – going from point A to B to C, etc. The battle was exciting to watch (even though they knew the ending). But there was never a motive or explanation of the adversaries’ involvement.

For some people maybe that’s enough.  Not for me.  Which is probably why I write like Faulkner. Now, if only I can be that successful!

(Of course there is the third choice – a well balanced book.  When one of those gems appears, it is wonderful, but few authors truly achieve it.)

Which to you prefer – plot or character? Why? What do you write?