"Plot and character are virtually the same thing"
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“Plot and character are virtually the same thing” is a tidy provocation aimed straight at the kind of storytelling that treats humans like chess pieces being shoved through a pre-ordained outline. Daniel Keys Moran, writing from the sci-fi tradition where big concepts can tempt a writer into spectacle-for-spectacle’s sake, is making a craft argument: events don’t become story until they collide with a person’s wants, fears, blind spots, and capacity for change. If the protagonist could swap places with any other competent body and the plot still runs, you don’t have a plot problem; you have a character problem.
The intent is corrective. Moran’s line pushes against “and then, and then” plotting, where causality is external (a villain appears, a ship explodes, a clue drops) rather than internal (a decision is made, a flaw is indulged, a value is tested). Subtext: character isn’t backstory, vibe, or quirk inventory. It’s the engine of choice under pressure. When the character’s psychology is specific, the plot stops feeling like authorial puppetry and starts reading like inevitability.
Context matters here: genre fiction has long been unfairly stereotyped as plot-driven and character-light. Moran’s claim implicitly rejects that hierarchy. He’s also smuggling in a readerly promise: the “twists” that matter won’t be random; they’ll be consequences. In the best narratives, action is biography in real time. The plot is what happens, but character is why it couldn’t have happened any other way.
The intent is corrective. Moran’s line pushes against “and then, and then” plotting, where causality is external (a villain appears, a ship explodes, a clue drops) rather than internal (a decision is made, a flaw is indulged, a value is tested). Subtext: character isn’t backstory, vibe, or quirk inventory. It’s the engine of choice under pressure. When the character’s psychology is specific, the plot stops feeling like authorial puppetry and starts reading like inevitability.
Context matters here: genre fiction has long been unfairly stereotyped as plot-driven and character-light. Moran’s claim implicitly rejects that hierarchy. He’s also smuggling in a readerly promise: the “twists” that matter won’t be random; they’ll be consequences. In the best narratives, action is biography in real time. The plot is what happens, but character is why it couldn’t have happened any other way.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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