What Makes a Good Novel: Character Decisions that
Advance Plot
By Mary Kole
Mary Kole is a former literary agent, freelance editor, writing teacher, author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit, and IP developer for major publishers, with over a decade in the publishing industry.
Character decisions are often foundational in what makes a good novel. Take, for example, a book I often recommend, Save the Cat by Blake Snyder (and its companion Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody), which posits that you can never start building reader sympathy too soon, and that this shouldn't be done through mere telling vs showing. Action to demonstrate character virtue is part of what makes a good novel. The two most important vehicles for showing are choice and action, so let’s unpack how both influence characterization in your fiction.
What Makes a Good Novel: Stakes for Characters
Showing characters making strong decisions is essential to create a protagonist, unreliable narrator, antagonist, or any other character that readers will relate to. Put them in situations where they must choose or act as often as possible. Think about whether they say one thing but do another. Or if they aim for one objective but opt for a different one when they run into story tension or an obstacle. Inconsistent characters tend to be tough to relate to. Ideally, your characters will have some consistency between thought and action. This will be demonstrated in the decisions they make.
Decisions and actions illustrate character traits, but they also propel the story forward, making for a proactive character. Most choices and actions will have repercussions that are hard to undo, and which might put characters in compromising situations full of high stakes. The more significant the decision or action is, the more it will stand out to the reader. This can result in a clear distinction between "before" and "after" scenarios with regards to plot, relationships, feelings, character knowledge, and each one-way door in the plot. (The inciting incident is an example of a one-way door.)
Say your character is a princess and is always threatening to run away. Instead of making this an empty promise, create a scenario that pushes her to act, even if she isn’t fully ready to do so yet or may have been bluffing. If she follows through, what does that tell us about her? If she stays, what does that say? The former is more dramatic than the latter.
What Makes a Good Novel: Avoid the Passive Character
As a writer, you may come across a lot of stories with characters who are passive and are unable (or unwilling) to act. This can be especially difficult when your character is trapped, physically, in a closed space or in a car on a road trip or simply because they are a child and don’t have a lot of agency in the world just yet. (A lot of picture book and chapter book projects suffer from passive protagonists, and this can be a big issue.)
In these cases, the characters’ choices and actions will be mainly limited to their inner thoughts, otherwise known as interiority, and the conflicts that come from their personal relationships to self and others. If you’ve heard that your character is passive, you may want to rethink your plot and consider whether the constraints on your character are going to be too limiting for modern storytelling, which prefers an active protagonist. Characters without agency or the ability to act are not what makes a good novel. Sometimes writers create stories that are too small to really entertain and hook the reader (LINK: https://kidlit.com/hook-the-reader).
Similarly, a “crash test dummy” plotline is one where characters remain passive and subject to external conflicts and the whims of others. Too often, the character stays indecisive and passive, not making choices, not taking action, and simply going with the flow of a largely external conflict. Unless the character takes a stand and starts to take control, this type of story can also limit your chances of reaching a broad audience or getting a strong reception from literary agents and traditional publishers. What makes a good novel in today’s market is pretty much universally decided: forward momentum from plot, yes, but especially the character.
What Makes a Good Novel: Focus on Active Characters
What makes a good novel? Have a think about whether you have created an active or passive character. Are they engaging in activities that push the story forward? Are they making strong decisions and choices? What has your character achieved, especially in the service of their objective? Could any of their words or actions have lasting effects in the story or raise the stakes? If the answer is no, you may be failing to recognize how influential crafting well-defined character decisions is when it comes to structure and plot. Active characters are what makes a good novel. Simple as that.
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Click here to purchase Writing Interiority: Crafting Irresistible Characters, my book on interiority and character creation. Explore your protagonist’s thoughts, feelings, reactions and interpretations, expectations, and inner struggles to create a rich, immersive experience. This guide will empower you to create characters who live and breathe on the page, fostering an unbreakable bond with your audience.