Create a Character-Driven Story

Character driven stories focus on emotions, beliefs, and development as opposed to stories that are driven by the plot. By creating a character-driven story, it allows for all the elements of the character to bloom as the central idea as opposed to being muted by a complex, action-packed plot for the reader to chase.

Example:

Fists of Justice

I stepped out into the street, my shoulders immediately shrugging up to my ears as the wind took its first frigid bite out of my face. Clouds draped over the towering skyscrapers like a thick blanket that trapped the city in a desolate wasteland. I trudged through the fresh heap of snow piled on the sidewalk, deeply regretting my choice of sneakers as opposed to the boots sitting patiently at my front door, but it was too late to turn back. I squinted to make out which street I was on, which turn to take-- anything to distract me from this unbearable cold.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Even through my wall of tears I could see the raw evil radiating from his cold silhouette-- a frightening shadow slumped against the brick wall that sent shivers down my spine. It wasn’t long before his gaze met mine, and the thick smoke of its bleakness filled my lungs.

I lost my breath altogether.

I was taken back to the courtroom, back to countless tired hours sitting in the same chair, praying, reliving the same wretched story told over and over and over until those words, those foul words of injustice passed the judge’s lips and continued to ring in my head like piercing bells at the gates of Hell itself:

“Not guilty.”

I’ll never forget the sly smirk painted on his face, or how badly I wanted to charge over to the stand and slap it off, or my helplessness as he walked away free.

Since then I’ve been nothing more than a ghost, numb and invisible and on the verge of being swallowed by the gaping hole in my chest, but things are different now. Yes, now every inch of my body is on fire; it boils with rage and a raw power I’ve never felt before. The clouds open up to reveal a sliver of open sky, and I can see him clearly now; he’s the only thing I can see. I’d trusted his fate in God’s hands, but I’ll find a way to take it into my own clenched fists. I only hope He can forgive me.