When I began publishing books on Kindle, actually even before when I used to send query letters to editors hoping to get interest in my stories, I found it complicated to figure out in a few words what my stories were. With Kindle, the best chance an unknown writer has to get their books seen is to find meaningful tags that will bring their books closer to the front when someone is looking for their next read.
One of the potential tags that has come to my mind is whether a story is character or plot driven. They really are very different types of stories. Generally speaking romances are character drive as it is the personalities of the two people that will drive what happens in the stories. I have already said I don't think my books are romances as such. They are love stories. Love stories have more potential to be plot driven or can be a mix of the two. The love story is woven into the plot and either one can be dominant-- although hopefully both are there. IF though I want to put a tag on it, I have to get more specific.
A reader who likes a character driven story will not be as fond of say a Tom Clancy book. Often you know very little of his characters' personalities. They are loosely defined, even stereotyped, because plot is everything and the character is a vehicle for that plot which is complex and goes in directions you sometimes never see coming.
On the other hand, a lover of plot driven stories will go nuts with Jane Austen who wrote very character driven stories that when you look back at them, you think nothing really happened-- and yet everything did-- but in the character's development as a person or as two people slowly reveal themselves to each other.
Most of my stories are more of the character driven sort, but when I began to think about this subject, I realized I have also written those that, although the characters are hopefully not totally shallow, they also are not more important than the events into which they have been set. They don't spend their time trying to work out emotional problems. They are too busy working out physical survival.
An example of one of mine that is more plot driven than character driven-- even though both aspects are in the story-- would be Hidden Pearl. Here we have a man and woman who are thrust into two mysteries regarding a cult which is gaining power. Although they are also falling in love and their personalities are important, a lot is going on as they work through the problems with which they are faced. If I were writing a tag about Hidden Pearl, I'd be hard put to decide if it was plot or character driven.
Hidden Pearl had an added problem with tagging. In a lot of ways, a title is a bit of a tag on its own. It tells the reader what to expect in a subtle way. Hidden Pearl's title is never fully explained in the book. There is no time (as there was with Evening Star) where it is explained why that title. Its meaning is to be shown through what is happening. The idea behind the title is that humans are looking for something that isn't easy to find but that is worthwhile in life. The hidden pearl is that for which it is worth dying and even more living. I don't lay out that underlying reason for the title, but hopefully, the reader will know what it was about by the time they finish reading it.
An example of one of mine that is character driven, probably the best clear example is Evening Star. In that, a lot is happening that is plot but the story is told through the eyes of a woman who is revealed to have some dysfunction in how she handles personal relationships. When she meets a man who challenges her fear of meaningful emotional connections, she basically has to dig deep within herself to find her own answers for how she got to where she is and what can she do about it. There is a plot, adventure, danger, uncertainty, and spice (all my books have spice), but it really is very character driven.
Even if someone doesn't want to go the self-published route, I think coming up with tags for your story is a good idea. It forces some focus in a writer. It is important to add to your sale's pitch. Readers who want a plot driven story will be disappointed and think nothing really happened if they get hold of a character driven one. Equally someone hoping for real depth of personality in a lead character in a plot driven story will probably be equally dissatisfied with one that is character driven. Like enough of the thinking already-- get with the action!
Tags are important in writing and in marketing. Even here at the blog, I have to think up labels for these articles; so that if a reader comes here, they can find more on the same topic. It has come a little easier to do that here than it has with the tags for the books. Both places matter and I am trying to come up with meaningful tags that will alert the reader to a story they will really enjoy not one that will disappoint them.
In writing about this, I thought of another aspect of a love story-- the fairy tale versus the reality driven. I might write about that next.
