Character-Driven Novel Structure
Where theme and emotion meets order
I struggled with theme for a long time. I just wanted to torture fake people with wild scenarios and then make them kiss. What do you MEAN I need a point for the suffering beyond that I’m a sick freak?
Well, it turns out that I’m still a sick freak… for thematic and character-driven structure. It’s incredibly satisfying (and makes far more sense to my particular creative brain) when I can align the point of my story to the very skeleton that supports it, therefore making character arcs more intuitive and meaningful.
While Kelly’s (and Shakespeare’s) 5-Act-Structure makes a lot of sense now that she’s put it into words for me, and I definitely follow that version of structuring a book when the spirit moves me, my favorite way to outline a novel is with theme and character at the center.
Example: paranormal romance about grief
On a macro level, this manuscript follows every other phase of grief: Denial, Bargaining, and Acceptance.
What does this look like? Instead of trying to align conflict, rising action, twists, etc to a particular page count or percentage of the whole, I let the characters guide pacing along the thematic skeleton. That means I emotionally segment the book by where the character is (and how the plot reacts) along her journey through the stages of grief. Her “refusing the call” in Hero’s Journey parlance lines up with the Denial phase of the book… and her romantic counterpart’s inability to change gears to convince her to work with him.
Bargaining takes up the largest portion of the book, because Anger and Depression are mixed up in it- essentially, the grieving characters are bargaining how much of their decision-making is going to be led by anger or depression, but no concrete decisions are being made. A lot of learning and compromising happens in this portion of the book.
Finally, Acceptance. Not simply acceptance of the end of the Bargaining phase… but first one character, then the other, making a concrete decision about how they will show up in their own life, and the lives of those they love, as a result of all they’ve figured out in the previous act. At first, these Acceptances don’t align… but because it’s a genre romance, eventually, they get there.
These three phases don’t cut the book neatly into thirds, or a Three Act Structure, but it’s far more intuitive for outlining a character-driven story. It centers their experience and their wounds, and ensures that as I work out what’s literally happening in their world, the challenges the characters face should align thematically with what phase we’re in.
I find this much more descriptive and emotionally motivated than “something must change for your characters or they must make a very scary decision.” With a character-driven structure like this, we’re narrowing down what “something” means, and what kinds of “scary decisions” will be most narratively satisfying.
Example: contemporary romance about fame
On a macro level, this manuscript uses deeper and deeper levels of Dante’s Inferno to align the story beats to. Because, you see, hell is other people (hehe). Also, because to be constantly perceived yet consistently misunderstood is also hell, especially when people attempt to simplify your humanity down to sins they can judge you for and feel superior to.
To be clear- I was not by any means adapting Dante’s Inferno when I used some of his little circles of hell as thematic structure for a romance novel about two actors, but I was taking inspiration from his descent to help provide scaffolding for their emotional journey together because it felt apt.
What does this look like? A contemporary romance is generally 65-90k words, and that really isn’t enough time to explore every circle of hell, nor did this story need that. The rings I chose were Limbo, Lust, Greed, Treachery & Fraud, and Dis (“the only way out is through [Satan’s genitals]”).
Limbo finds our actors each at a crossroads of their career, with new directions in mind but plenty of reasons to stay exactly where they are… that is, until they meet each other.
Lust being so early in Dante’s journey at first frustrated me, because my characters weren’t ready to bang it out yet… but I realized it gave me an opportunity to explore a different interpretation of this circle. So by the time they’re in Lust… they’re attracted to each other, but more so covetous of what they perceive the other person represents. Their lust dehumanises the other to an extent, not just sexually, but overall, which sets the stage for…
Greed. This is the portion of the book where they’re actually finally intimate, and because of their covetousness in Lust, they’re gluttons for one another… but only through the lens of the preconceived notions that locked into place in the previous section. The heroine starts to believe she can have it all, and so does the hero… except one of them thinks it’s possible to do so out of the public’s eye, without considering how that would feel to their partner, who’s ready to finally come out of the shadows.
Treachery & Fraud represents, as you might imagine, our characters’ dark night of the soul, where preconceived notions are challenged and our characters choose to either betray the other or themselves instead of being vulnerable and relying on their partnership to see them through the journey.
Dis is the center of Hell according to Dante, where Satan is imprisoned and a whole bunch of other weird stuff, but ultimately the only way out of the Underworld is through… which for our characters means facing what they’ve been afraid to, together.
A word of caution/a diagnostic tool: when you come upon a narrative crossroads (for character or plot), look to where the chapter falls in your thematic outline. If the current phase doesn’t feel resolved, use that as your guide for what kinds of decisions will feel impactful. If the current phase the chapter’s in does feel resolved, or your characters are feeling antsy, consider moving on to what’s next.
Whether you stay in the section you’re starting at, or jump forward, that decision has answers for where the character themselves is, emotionally.
We’ve compiled a few other character-driven structures potentially worth adapting for paid subscribers behind the paywall, if you’d like to try this out for yourself!
And get the video version of this post right here:
Tonight (April 2nd), our Writing Community Hour over on The Rogue MFA YouTube channel (which meets every other Thursday evening at 4pm PST/ 7pm EST) might be a great place to come discuss your structure challenges. We host on our YouTube channel, where we’ll be building routine and community with YOU. Subscribe to get notified, and if you’re even a little bit interested, please fill out our quick survey so we can expand these in the future with you in mind.
