Last night I was listening to Martin Scorsese talk about plot driven stories vs. character driven stories, and he came out firmly on the character driven side of the argument. I'd have to agree. Plot is important, especially when I'm crafting a mystery, but creating interesting characters to inhabit the plot is far more essential. When I started writing the Jack Lime mystery series, I had the plot worked out, but the voice of the narrator wasn't right and Jack wasn't quite right and as a result the stories were blah. Once I worked out Jack's voice, and really made Jack into a fully realized character, that's when things got interesting. The plot stayed the same, but the characters inside the plot came to life and that's what brought the story to life. The plot is like a body waiting for the lightening to bring it to life, the characters bring that energy.
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