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Old 20-02-2016, 22:56
BBKINGREALITY
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I've never understood what this means exactly. I know what plot driven means but I don't get what makes a story 'character driven'. People mention how Corrie was better when it was character driven, is this true for all soaps. I think Jack Duckworth in his prime was all character driven. However, Isn't every story character driven considering their actions drive the plot?.
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Old 20-02-2016, 23:13
Whiskyrum
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Character driven is more about one to one scenes over cups of tea
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Old 20-02-2016, 23:14
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I have a feeling the difference might be in the spelling.
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Old 20-02-2016, 23:47
Nefersitra
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In my opinion (and others might disagree) is that in a plot driven story, the characters do things that are illogical, stupid or out of character so the story can be played out while in a character driven story, the plot seems to develop naturally from the characters.

Lets take that soap staple of an affair as our example;

Tina and Peter's affair in Corrie is a prime example of a Plot Driven Story. Michelle Keegan was leaving and TPTB had decided that they wanted to kill Tina off for a big Whodunnit. Tina didn't have many enemies and so they had to create suspects. As a result, Peter and Tina went from ignoring each other to unable to keep their hands to themselves despite there being no chemistry. Up until then, Tina had been shown to be very moral (abeit selfish and gobby) so her sudden change into a bunny boiler was completely out of character and just served to provide suspects for her murder.

Stacey and Max's affair in EastEnders is an example of a Character Driven Story. Max thought Bradley could do better than Stacey and was repeating Max's mistakes in having a baby too young. He persuaded Bradley to talk Stacey into an abortion and even gave them the money. This lead to them splitting up - Stacey was unaware of Max's role in this and decided to hurt Bradley as badly as he had hurt her by bedding Max. What was supposed to be a one-off or short fling grew into something more and there was a lot of chemistry. Stacey had always been fiery and vindictive so her deciding to take revenge on Bradley was in character.

Both Peter and Max had a history of infidelity so an affair was not of the realms of possibility for either.
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Old 20-02-2016, 23:49
sorcha_healy27
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I've never understood what this means exactly. I know what plot driven means but I don't get what makes a story 'character driven'. People mention how Corrie was better when it was character driven, is this true for all soaps. I think Jack Duckworth in his prime was all character driven. However, Isn't every story character driven considering their actions drive the plot?.
Look at Hollyoaks. It's a prime example of plot driven. Characters are often ruined and changed to suit whatever ludicrous plot is going on..

Character driven is far superior..
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Old 20-02-2016, 23:53
ChatterFace
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Character driven and plot driven are widely judged by whether the story is driven by believable character actions and development or written to support the plot regardless of whether its true to the character or not actually developing on the characteristics during the plot.

For example, EE's Kat has a troubled history due to her abuse. A character driven moment could be considered as the time she went to the convent and her past and her emotions were explored and were true to Kat's past etc. A plot driven moment could be considered as 'Who shagged Kat?' where nearly the whole storyline focused on the mystery and whodunnit, building up the big reveal but never really building much on the actual basis of the affair and what led Kat down that path... Of course we did later get the 'I'm a dirty girl' and 'The baby swap damaged our marriage' etc. But the plot could be said as one that was driven by the 'whodunnit' rather than Kat as a character.
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Old 20-02-2016, 23:55
ChatterFace
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In my opinion (and others might disagree) is that in a plot driven story, the characters do things that are illogical, stupid or out of character so the story can be played out while in a character driven story, the plot seems to develop naturally from the characters.

Lets take that soap staple of an affair as our example;

Tina and Peter's affair in Corrie is a prime example of a Plot Driven Story. Michelle Keegan was leaving and TPTB had decided that they wanted to kill Tina off for a big Whodunnit. Tina didn't have many enemies and so they had to create suspects. As a result, Peter and Tina went from ignoring each other to unable to keep their hands to themselves despite there being no chemistry. Up until then, Tina had been shown to be very moral (abeit selfish and gobby) so her sudden change into a bunny boiler was completely out of character and just served to provide suspects for her murder.

Stacey and Max's affair in EastEnders is an example of a Character Driven Story. Max thought Bradley could do better than Stacey and was repeating Max's mistakes in having a baby too young. He persuaded Bradley to talk Stacey into an abortion and even gave them the money. This lead to them splitting up - Stacey was unaware of Max's role in this and decided to hurt Bradley as badly as he had hurt her by bedding Max. What was supposed to be a one-off or short fling grew into something more and there was a lot of chemistry. Stacey had always been fiery and vindictive so her deciding to take revenge on Bradley was in character.

Both Peter and Max had a history of infidelity so an affair was not of the realms of possibility for either.
Great post. I attempted to explain it myself but this post probably nails it far better than I did
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Old 20-02-2016, 23:59
Whiskyrum
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcqqJc4xYxQ

This is character driven.... No explosions or anything
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Old 21-02-2016, 00:41
BBKINGREALITY
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Both Peter and Max had a history of infidelity so an affair was not of the realms of possibility for either.
Wouldn't that make Peters affair character driven then as its in his character to be a sleaze?
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Old 21-02-2016, 06:56
Andybear
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcqqJc4xYxQ

This is character driven.... No explosions or anything
I watched EE until it became the Slater show and that is my all time favourite scene - totally brilliant. I'm glad I'm old enough to have been able to see it in those days.
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Old 21-02-2016, 08:25
sorcha_healy27
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Wouldn't that make Peters affair character driven then as its in his character to be a sleaze?
Yes but not with Tina. They had never interacted with each other before the affair which makes it plot driven

If he had started an affair with Leanne or someone else he had history with then that like max/Stacey, would have been character driven
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Old 21-02-2016, 14:17
Hit_The_North
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Soaps used to be ALL character, and very little happened. Now it's all crash bang wallop. Soaps should stop trying to be watershed drama and get back to being about the characters. Finely drawn detailed characters!
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Old 21-02-2016, 14:20
Nico_D
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Soaps used to be ALL character, and very little happened. Now it's all crash bang wallop. Soaps should stop trying to be watershed drama and get back to being about the characters. Finely drawn detailed characters!
Agre whole heartedly with this, it's getting harder and harder to enjoy them know when all you do is keep thinking that would never happen. Wait your in love now ? you hated him two weeks ago.
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Old 21-02-2016, 14:59
Nefersitra
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Great post. I attempted to explain it myself but this post probably nails it far better than I did
Thank you ChatterFace - I think your explanation is great too. I liked the way you used two of Kat's stories show the difference.
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Old 21-02-2016, 16:03
Good_boys
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So a good example of plot driven, would be Brookside sometime in 1999 deciding to have a storyline where a female who had always identified as heterosexual experiments with a lesbian relationship, and it was decided to give that storyline to... Lindsay.

I suppose another example of plot driven, would be the death of Max and Susannah's kids in the car crash. That was done specifically to facilitate the surrogacy storyline.

Similarly, they wanted to have a YP suffer the effects of a dodgy ecstasy tablet in a nightclub, so they need to have someone to have sold it....and they made that person ...Lindsay. (Who had previously had heroin planted on her and ended up in a Thai prison)
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Old 21-02-2016, 16:34
Lady Voldemort
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Character driven: where the events naturally evolve the characters

Plot driven: where suspensions of disbelief are called for
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Old 21-02-2016, 16:43
TheGraduate2012
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In my opinion (and others might disagree) is that in a plot driven story, the characters do things that are illogical, stupid or out of character so the story can be played out while in a character driven story, the plot seems to develop naturally from the characters.

Lets take that soap staple of an affair as our example;

Tina and Peter's affair in Corrie is a prime example of a Plot Driven Story. Michelle Keegan was leaving and TPTB had decided that they wanted to kill Tina off for a big Whodunnit. Tina didn't have many enemies and so they had to create suspects. As a result, Peter and Tina went from ignoring each other to unable to keep their hands to themselves despite there being no chemistry. Up until then, Tina had been shown to be very moral (abeit selfish and gobby) so her sudden change into a bunny boiler was completely out of character and just served to provide suspects for her murder.

Stacey and Max's affair in EastEnders is an example of a Character Driven Story. Max thought Bradley could do better than Stacey and was repeating Max's mistakes in having a baby too young. He persuaded Bradley to talk Stacey into an abortion and even gave them the money. This lead to them splitting up - Stacey was unaware of Max's role in this and decided to hurt Bradley as badly as he had hurt her by bedding Max. What was supposed to be a one-off or short fling grew into something more and there was a lot of chemistry. Stacey had always been fiery and vindictive so her deciding to take revenge on Bradley was in character.

Both Peter and Max had a history of infidelity so an affair was not of the realms of possibility for either.
Brilliant summary. That's exactly it in my eyes. Proof that character-driven drama is far better than plot-driven drama, which often sees likeable characters' personalities change drastically to suit the plot at hand.
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Old 21-02-2016, 18:14
Joe_Guerra
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If you've ever watched skins, that was very character driven
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Old 21-02-2016, 21:29
Keyser_Soze1
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcqqJc4xYxQ

This is character driven.... No explosions or anything
That storyline was utterly rubbish.

I watched it as a kid and if I remember correctly the viewing figures were some of the worst that the show has ever seen.
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Old 21-02-2016, 21:35
kitkat1971
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I've never understood what this means exactly. I know what plot driven means but I don't get what makes a story 'character driven'. People mention how Corrie was better when it was character driven, is this true for all soaps. I think Jack Duckworth in his prime was all character driven. However, Isn't every story character driven considering their actions drive the plot?.
I don't know the official definition (if there is one) but for me it is about whether the drama is believable from a character point of view - whether you can see that they would do something due to their history and personality and the drama coming from that.

Plot driven is basically that the writers decide they want to do something, run a particular plot and then change a character to fit them into that plot, even if it makes no sense to everything we know about them.

I'll try and think of a few specific examples of storylines for both writing techniques.
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Old 21-02-2016, 21:38
sorcha_healy27
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I don't know the official definition (if there is one) but for me it is about whether the drama is believable from a character point of view - whether you can see that they would do something due to their history and personality and the drama coming from that.

Plot driven is basically that the writers decide they want to do something, run a particular plot and then change a character to fit them into that plot, even if it makes no sense to everything we know about them.

I'll try and think of a few specific examples of storylines for both writing techniques.
Just look at Hollyoaks Kitkat.
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Old 21-02-2016, 21:50
vald
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I don't know the official definition (if there is one) but for me it is about whether the drama is believable from a character point of view - whether you can see that they would do something due to their history and personality and the drama coming from that.

Plot driven is basically that the writers decide they want to do something, run a particular plot and then change a character to fit them into that plot, even if it makes no sense to everything we know about them.

I'll try and think of a few specific examples of storylines for both writing techniques.
Two that I can think of are:

Stacey killing Archie in cold blood. It was meant to be Peggy, but for some reason they changed it to Stacey, maybe because Charlie wanted to leave, who knows, but I thought it was out of character. Ronnie or Peggy would have made perfect sense after what he'd put them through.

Zainab's exit. One minute Masood adored the woman, faults and all. The next he's flirting with a young girl, we got all that rubbish with the fountain, and he pretty much chucked her out.
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Old 21-02-2016, 22:05
kitkat1971
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Yes, Hollyoaks is very plot driven.

One example of character driven storylining I can remember from Hollyoaks early days was Lucy's Heroin addiction. Given Rob's addiction to Heroin and how Kurt, Lucy etc turned him over to his drug dealers, it was totally in character that he would want revenge and use drugs as a way of achieving it. Given the bereavement Lucy had just suffered (her brothers death) guilt over her part in it and feelings of isolation from her family, it was completely in character that she could be persuaded that drugs would offer an escape from her pain. So, it all evolved quite naturally over a couple of years.

Such storylines in Hollyoaks are few and far between though.

I agree with the definitions and examples given by other posters, some very astute comments.

Everything leading up to Tina's death was completely plot driven, purely so they could run the murder plot. Two characters that had never looked twice at each other, suddenly find each other irrestible? Whilst it was believable that Peter would stray when offered it on a plate as he has always been portrayed as weak who thinks with his trousers (although, he did resist Carla for several months and arguably his marriage to Leanne was more troubled than his engagement to Carla), tina had been moral and would actively chase a taken man. Also, Tina's fued with Tracey came out of nowhere, suddenly Simon needed a baby sitter rather than just relying on the several family members around and Carla started taking stupid pills by not noticing the very obvious signs of infidelity.

Plot driven isn't always bad. It can work but only if they don't have to intrinsically change characters. One very successful example would be another 'whodunnit' - Who Shot JR? Very late on in the season, the Producers were told the Network wanted another two episodes. They'd written everything, leading up to a season end and didn't know what to do. Then, somebody said, why don't we just have JR be shot? So they had the end and then had to work back to slot everything into place to achieve that goal. But, the thing is, JR had been behaving so badly all season that it was believable that several people would hate him enough to want him dead so although it was plot driven, it didn't damage the characters to do it.

I think that is when people object to 'plot driven'. When the only way they can achieve it, get that big cliffhanger or set scene or slot an 'issue' in is to have characters act out of character or change overnight for no discernable or logical reason.
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Old 21-02-2016, 22:11
kitkat1971
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Two that I can think of are:

Stacey killing Archie in cold blood. It was meant to be Peggy, but for some reason they changed it to Stacey, maybe because Charlie wanted to leave, who knows, but I thought it was out of character. Ronnie or Peggy would have made perfect sense after what he'd put them through.

Zainab's exit. One minute Masood adored the woman, faults and all. The next he's flirting with a young girl, we got all that rubbish with the fountain, and he pretty much chucked her out.
Yes, both great examples.

Actually, a lot of characters exits fall into the group, it being completely out of character for somebody to leave their husband or particularly children but I will give them a little more leeway with that as there often is no other way to do it when an actor quits unless they are prepared to write the whole family out or kill the character off.

A character driven plot i can think of, though some would say it's not a soap, is Jac Naylor's mother turning up just to get her kidney in Holby City. After 5 years of Jac, we got to learn why she is as damaged as she is. There was no plot reason for her to need to lose a kidney, it was purely done to enrich her character, for us to understand her more and made absolute sense of many of her actions for the prior 5 years and the 5 years since. Pure character driven drama.
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Old 21-02-2016, 22:12
MrJames
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You can still have big, huge, blockbuster storylines that are character driven.

Who Killed Lucy, for all its sins, stayed very true to character throughout. The Beales' grief, Max sleeping with a young girl, Ian sleeping with a prostitue, Jane protecting her son. It was a big, glossy, soap whodunit but it stayed very much rooted in character.

It then dissolved into a plot driven mess when half the square started discovering the truth about Bobby.

Another good example of blockbuster storylines being character driven is Donna's death in Emmerdale. A completely pitch perfect storyline from beginning to end and despite being action-packed throughout, it constantly stayed rooted in character.
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