Plot or Character

The debate continues. Should your novel be plot-driven or character-driven? A J Humpage has this interesting post which speaks of the differences between the two. On reading this I immediately thought of my soon- to-be published debut novel “It Can’t Be You”. This is hitting the stands at the end of November 2010. I started off believing my story was largely character-based. I tried to delve into the minds of  my characters to think as I believed they would. As things moved on and the story took shape,

I wondered if I had moved to having a plot-driven story. I do understand that most novels have a balance of both. I am sure time- and my readers-will tell me whether my novel has been character-driven or plot-driven.

At the end of the day, it should be a good read. And good reads need both a strong plot and strong characters, don’t they?