Every writer and every story is different. Honestly, I think every writer will hold the basic building blocks of written fiction in a different tension. A unique tension.

These building blocks are character, plot, style, and theme.

Personally, I think the best stories put character, and character development, first. We see the characters grow. We see them fail, and try again, and learn, and keep going. The plot acts in service to character development.

It’s not that plot isn’t important. It absolutely is, and it needs to make sense, hold together, and entertain given the genre of the story.

But I dislike stories that sacrifice developing character for the sake of plot, as though a written story is an action MOVIE. I’ve said it before, and I will continue to say it: novels and movies are different. Novels and screenplays are different.

Even a GREAT action movie is largely forgettable (with some few exceptions), specifically because it cares more about plot than character. What sticks with a reader (or viewer) is character. We remember characters that we relate to and learn from, characters who are fleshed out and feel like and act like real human beings. We remember characters who inspire us.

On to style. Style should really jump out in literary fiction. Otherwise, I think style should serve the plot and serve character development. It should also serve genre. For instance, my strength as a writer is dialogue. I definitely understand this, and it’s why I generally don’t write thrillers or horror or another genre that is more action dependent. (There IS action in my books, especially “The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope,” and those scenes are good, but dialogue is where I really shine.)

I have a gift for advancing plot and for characterizing through dialogue, specifically. My genre and subgenre support that.

As for theme, theme derives from the other components of a novel and should not be forced or inorganically inserted.

Can you insert a believable crisis to “force”, in a sense, character development? You betcha! And you very likely should.

Should you force a thematically centered bit of dialogue? Absolutely not.

For me, character is king. I read, and I write, for the characters. A story that is all about action may be fun in the moment, which is great if that’s the case. Everyone has different tastes, and every story is different, for sure. But I notice I’ll read a story that is weak in characterization and heavy in action, and then forget it. That’s the case with me.

When you combine an engaging plot with strongly developed characters? That’s the best of all possible worlds.