Character-driven stories can deal with inner transformation or the relationships between the characters. Whereas plot-driven stories focus on a set of choices that a character must make, a character-driven story focuses on how the character arrives at a particular choice.

Character-driven stories are focused more on character development than they are on plot. Character-driven stories are often found in literary fiction. A character-driven plot is the type of story that is driven by emotion as opposed to a high concept plot.

But generally speaking, character-driven means that the plot is primarily guided by characters reacting to other characters, while plot-driven (or event-driven might be a better term) means that the plot is primarily guided by character reactions to external events.

Harry Potter is a long and complex story, and is both plot-driven and character-driven. Harry Potter is a long and complex story, and is both plot-driven and character-driven. The overarching plot element is rather simple.

“Game of Thrones” is a character-driven story: it is defined by the compelling, well-written characters and the amazing performances by the actors that play them. The show has gone through a host of directors and writers in the past, but overall, every character’s arc has stayed on the relatively same trajectory.

4 Tips for Writing Cliffhangers from Dan Brown

1. Move the last few paragraphs of a scene to the next chapter.
2. Create a section break between your work.
3. Introduce a new surprise that the audience will not expect.
4. Use pulses, or short sentences or phrases to remind the reader of lurking danger.

As nouns the difference between suspense and cliffhanger is that suspense is the condition of being suspended; cessation for a time while cliffhanger is (narratology) an ending or stopping point calculated to leave a story unresolved, in order to create suspense.