What an interesting post! I wonder if a story, e.g., within historical fiction, may also be setting focused in addition to the character or plot focus?

Yet, from what I perceive, the essence of the story isn’t about Andrew Martin or his personal growth arcs, despite how much I love him. The story is ultimately about how the society views robots, how conservative and rigid-minded many people can be, how deeply distrustful many humans can be towards A.I.s, even when the robot in question is clearly benevolent, clever, helpful, and creative. On a grander level, you could see this as a general critique against people who are so close-minded and judgmental, so xenophobic, so reluctant to see those who are different from them as equals.

Another huge thing that Positironic Man is about, is the question of what makes one human. Why is it that Andrew Martin has so many human traits, such as kindness, compassion, desires and ambitions, sadness, anger, fear, and joy, the ability to communicate and create intelligently, yet many people still can’t accept him as a real, legitimate human citizen, just because he wasn’t made of organic carbon matter?

Does this sound like a character-driven, plot-driven story to you too?

Hi V.M.,

LOL! Yes, I’m a strong believer of nuance. 😉

Most advice has a core of truth, but that doesn’t mean it will be helpful to us or our story specifically. So I try to focus more on finding that core nugget of “why does this advice exist?” and asking whether that nugget of truth applies to any certain situation.

I have posts on my blog digging into this idea more, such as whether we should follow the advice to “write every day” and so on. Let me know if you’d like me to share the links, and thanks for stopping by!

Thanks for checking it out, P.I.! I hope it’s helpful. 🙂