Plot and character, explained

Once more for the students in the back of the room.

A plot is, for lack of a better word, an external "crisis" that the characters in the story are trying to work their way through. Sometimes it's the driving force of the story, as you will find in a mystery novel; other times, it takes the back seat to character development, as in books like "Les Misérables" or "A Christmas Carol," where the transformation of the person is what grips us. Really good authors can combine the two of them.

What gets you to read "The Hobbit" the first time is the effort of the 13 dwarves and their burglar to retrieve the gold from Smaug's lair. But what gets you to read it again is the transformation of Bilbo's character from a sedentary sort who mislikes adventures because they make one late for supper into the hobbit who risks his life sneaking the Arkenstone to Bard of Dale in an attempt to head off disaster.

Too much plot and not enough character development leaves you with a multimillion-dollar box office bomb like "The Last Action Hero." Switch the two around and you get something like "Unbreakable," which many reviewers considered too slow and plodding to be worth watching.

It is quite possible for a story to have no plot to speak of and still be good. Witness "The Sixth Sense," which was entirely character driven. There's no quest to complete, but damn if you don't want to find out what's going on with Cole Seer.

In the case of "Star Wars," the plot was the conflict between the Empire and the Rebellion and centered on Grand Moff Tarkin's efforts to crush the Rebellion. Luke's growth from annoying whiny brat to melodramatic Jedi knight was a theme.