An eight-hundred-page book tells the story of a forty-inch-tall man traveling across a semi-mythical world to throw a ring into a volcano. A famous play is the story of an overly proud king disowning his only loving child for not flattering him and then paying the price for it. A three-thousand-year-old poem tells the story of a proud warrior being dishonored by a foolish king and the havoc that ensues in a famous war that includes gods and goddesses acting decidedly human. A boy saves a princess with the help of a space pirate and a mystical monk long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. Two almost god-like races, one devoted to peace and truth and the other consumed by war and evil fight a war of extermination in the Milky Way galaxy over the course of billions of years. A movie tells the story of seven samurai or seven cowboys agreeing to save a town from bandits with glory as the only reward. A hen-pecked New Jersey grocery store owner sells everything he owns and travels 3,000 miles to California to buy an orange ranch that doesn’t have any oranges on it. A man drags his wife and young son two thousand miles to an isolated hotel in the Rocky Mountains where they will all be the playthings of ghosts who want to add them to the spectral residents.
What do all of these stories have in common? Well, almost nothing. Each of them is a fairly popular work of fiction. But otherwise, they’re all over the map in terms of plot, characters, genre and the societies they represent. But what makes them successful stories is their ability to draw the reader (or viewer) into their worlds and spark human empathy. It’s as simple as that.
We recognize Frodo’s humanity and cheer him on as he pits his tiny strength against titanic forces of evil. We shake our heads at the pig-headed antics of Achilles and Agamemnon but we nod our heads at the recognition that war will take good men like Hector and make his wife a widow and his son an orphan. We thrill to the heroics of a small band of warriors pitting their strength and skill against a small army of bandits, knowing full well that most of them will die in the battle. We laugh at and at the same time see ourselves in a man constantly belittled and frustrated by everyone around him including his overbearing wife and annoying children who then stubbornly heads down the road to ruin only to be saved by fortune and his own indestructible sense that eventually it will have to be his turn.
So, what is the most important aspect? Plot or character? I used to think plot. After all, we all like the quest and the action scenes and all the other hooks that draw us into the story. But as I get older, I realize that if the characters are mere ciphers, then the hold thing devolves into a video game. And it can be fun and exciting but on reflection it feels sort of meaningless. Does it really matter how many monsters he fights if you don’t believe the hero is real?
So that’s the trick for the author. Somehow you have to invest your heroes and villains with enough humanity to make your reader (or viewer) care. Breathing life into a stream of words takes a bit of doing. Usually, you have to take something from your own experience to make it seem real. But when it’s done right it’s the rewarding part of writing. Self-satisfaction.
“Two almost god-like races, one devoted to peace and truth and the other consumed by war and evil fight a war of extermination in the Milky Way galaxy over the course of billions of years.
Sounds like Arisia and Eddore in “Doc” Smith’s LENSMAN Series.
That’s the one!
Absolutely. It has never been done in American cinema. The Asian anime versions all universally suck and have almost nothing to do with the book.
I’d never heard of the Japanese version of the Lensman story at all. I’ve always been of the opinion that the Lensman series (if done thoughtfully) would make an epic motion picture. Of course, adjusting it to the screen would require a director and script writer with good instincts for story telling.
I realized about 10 years ago that whether or not I liked a television series or movie depended almost entirely on my liking the characters. Very rarely do I run into a character that is unique. Heroes, heroines, and villains are pretty much standard tropes. I think it was the Princess Bride (a family favorite) that made me realize how important likeable characters are. It matters that I like the hero and hate the villain. It requires both good writing and good acting to pull that off. In a novel there is, of course, no acting per se but a… Read more »
Glenn, imagine how far we’ve come from good storytelling in that most of the movies have protagonists that are not only unlikeable but are obviously just walking socio-political tropes. E.g., all of the “good” characters in a Star Wars movie.
Wouldn’t it be something if we had a movie where the lead character was a George Bailey or even a John Wayne hero. I think I’d pass out from shock.
Excellent piece, photog. Character development is key, then plot.
Thanks Tyler. I guess the way I look at it, an exciting plot without good characterization is a comic strip. But even a wisp of a plot with great characterization can be compelling because humanity is intriguing.