Donna Russo Morin | Characters are the soul of the plot; plot is the receptacle of the soul.

That’s the answer I give whenever asked the timeless question, “which is more important, character or plot?” And invariably I get a look of skeptical confusion. But to be truthful, we must recognize that not only can one not exist without the other, but that one cannot be successful without the other…a good character can not carry a book without a stirring story to breathe in.

When we fall in love with a character, it is not only his or her instinctive traits that endear them to us, but their responses to the situations in which they find themselves. Quite frankly, Scarlett O’Hara (one of my favorite heroines of all time) would simply have been deemed a demanding diva if she acted the way she did under normal circumstances. If the war hadn’t broken out and if her struggle did not become one of survival for herself and her family, she would have become a character worthy of reality show depiction and abhorrence.

Jeanne du Bois, the protagonist of my recent historical fiction release, THE COURTIER’S SECRET, would have been considered no more than a spoiled brat were her father not a controlling and abusive man, did she not live in a society that afforded her no control over the course of her own life.

Like Scarlett, Jeanne is flawed and her flaws are laid bare for all to see. Yet it is despite these flaws, and because of them, that she is able to defy the standards of her era, learn the art of the sword in secret and use that skill beside the Musketeers, when disguised as a man, to fight against those who would harm the Queen she loves. Without the construct of her circumstances, she would be deemed a disruptive harridan and not worthy of our interest or our concern.

During the research process for my historical novels, I know I’ve hit upon a noteworthy time in history when life altering events occur one after the other. At the end of the writing process, I realize I’ve created a character worthy of readers’ attention when I begin to miss her as soon as I’ve typed ‘the end.’

To the great characters that have been drawn by the mighty pen of writers throughout time, I raise my glass. And to the vagaries of life, both harsh and harmonious, in which they reside, I take a giant swig.

Donna Russo Morin
www.donnarussomorin.com/

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