Just told my friend that we are not going to have a Tolstoy of the 21st century because everyone treats their novels and stories like a game of dominoes
There
Y'know how novels before the rise of fandom so often revolved around human against human, human against self, human against nature, or human against fate etc? Now, it sometimes feels as though the central conflict of any novels, genre or literary is simply human against reactions.
Characters spend the whole story reacting to whatever gets thrown at them. Someone says something, they spiral. Something bad happens, they grow. Someone betrays them, they change. Everything important comes from outside.
I think part of that comes from the obsession with writing characters people will immediately latch onto. And the plot mostly exists to give them moments to react, emote, or be shipped.
A robbery shouldn't fail because the writer needs a lesson or a dramatic twist. It should fail because these people were always going to fail. Their pride, fear, greed, loyalty, or blind spots make the outcome inevitable. The plot shouldn't be happening to the characters; it should be happening because of them.
That's what I mean by human vs reactions.
