What Is the Difference Between an Internally-Driven and Externally-Driven Novel?

originally written in March 2011 and revised in October 2020 for clarity

All novels should have an internal/emotional plot and an external/physical plot. In other words, the protagonist should be on a quest to solve both an emotional and physical problem. But depending on the type of novel you are writing, you’ll find that either the emotional problem drives the physical, or the physical problem is driving the emotional one.

In an internally-driven novel, the emotional problem is what drives the physical problem. If the protagonist didn’t have an internal/emotional problem, they might not have the physical problem at all. For example, if Troy Billings of K. L. Going’s Fat Kid Rules The World didn’t feel so terrible about himself, he wouldn’t have been standing on that subway platform, waiting to jump. He wouldn’t have been sucked into Curt’s band, and he never would have vomited on stage. In the end, he may never have stood up to his father.

In a plot-driven novel, the external/physical problem drives the emotional problem. In The Hunger Games, Katniss never would have had to grapple with becoming a killer if she didn’t have to volunteer herself for the Hunger Games. If she never entered the games, she would never have thought about Peeta as anything more than the baker’s son. She wouldn’t have to choose during the trilogy if she was going to become a puppet for one regime just to destroy another. She wouldn’t have realized that she did love Peeta, after all.

You’ll also notice a difference in pacing between an internally-driven and externally-driven novel. An internally-driven novel may feel slower to the reader, because we are seeing an emotional change. The changes could be subtle. We may see, for example, Troy feeling better about himself and becoming more outgoing, only to have a setback and have him retreat back into his shell. (Note that the set back is a plot-based setback, that triggers an emotional setback. The heart of the novel though, is still how Troy feels about himself.) On the other hand, a plot-driven novel will have a physical step forward or step back in every chapter with less time for the character to digest how he’s feeling about it. The “ticking clock” is generally more pressing in a plot-based novel.

Sometimes, particular genres lend themselves to one type of novel or another. Literary fiction tends to be internally-driven. Mystery, suspense, fantasy and other genres tends to be externally-driven. But that’s not to say that people can’t fall in love with well drawn genre characters (see: Katniss Everdeen, Lyra & Will, etc.) or that there are no fast paced scenes in literary fiction. In both forms of fiction, we still want to read about identifiable, well-drawn characters and see chapters with movement.

In your writing, always be clear about the protagonist’s motivations (internal and external) and think about how they interact. Once you realize which motivation is driving the other for your protagonist, you can look at your chapter arcs with a much clearer eye!

October 2020 note: Regardless of whether you’re writing an internally driven or externally driven story - the protagonist still must be the one in the driver’s seat. When editors and agents say they’re looking for character driven stories, they mean they want a protagonist that is actively working towards their goal, instead of reacting to what’s happening around them.