There is a connection between characters and plot, of course. Certain plots demand certain characters and vice versa. Nevertheless, characters alone don’t make a plot and a plot always needs at least one character (most plots need more) to work. They are not interchangeable and they don’t have the same job to do.
Let’s start with the plot. A story without one plot arc at least (most stories above flash fiction or short story have more) is like a Porsche without an engine: it may look nice and cause envy in people, but it will never do what it was meant to. Something has to happen in a story and that is what the plot is good for: making things happen.
In most stories, several things happen at once. There’s character-related plots, making the protagonist grown, influencing their relationship with other characters. The protagonist usually has something personal to work on - a phobia they need to overcome, anger management issues, trust issues, other issues. That’s their internal plot arc which runs along and should be finished before the main plot arc (sometimes also called the throughline - thanks, Mythcreants). There’s also several external plots in most stories - there’s the big, high-stakes ones as well as the small, low-stakes ones. Generally speaking, the throughline should be the one with the highest stakes, because that is what will keep people most engaged.
Managing the plot arcs for a long story, such as a novel or even a series of novels (unless, like me, you serialize), can be pretty daunting. That’s where your notes and your bible come in. That’s why software like Campfire Pro (see my post about migrating to it) allows for you to follow several plot arcs (they call them ‘timeline’) in one story. Like this, you can see where they start, where they cross, and where they end. By the time you get to the big confrontation, all the smaller ones should be resolved and tied up. The confrontation (which doesn’t have to be physical at all) is where the strongest arc, your throughline, is tied up. This is where, in one way or other, your protagonist and your antagonist (even if the antagonist happens to be circumstances or fate instead of a person) will crash and the protagonist will, most likely, win. This is what the story is building towards.
In short: the plot is what is fuelling your story, the engine on which it runs.
Now for the characters. Characters are tied to the plot arcs, because they’re about them, one way or other. A character you create has to fit with the plot they’re supposed to be connected to. If you have a plot that demands a lot of fighting and daring-do, the character should by physically able to survive all of that and should have the skills necessary to master it. If, on the other hand, your plot hinges on a character being able to outsmart others on the political parquet, there’s a completely different set of skills they’ll need to have. They may fail here and there, that’s fine and part of a good character development, but the audience must be shown that they’re capable of mastering the plot, that the necessary skills are there.
Characters in a story should also be diverse. They should have different skill sets, different views of life and the world, different wants and needs. Wants and needs are important in connection with the plot, too, because the plot should revolve around the protagonist’s wants while teaching them about their needs and making sure they get their needs fulfilled (see this blog post on the topic of wants and needs). Diverse characters also give you more to work with. If the only tool you have is a hammer, every repair job looks like it requires a hammer, but let’s be serious: you’ll never be able to get a screw in and out with one, you’ll never be able to shorten a board with it, and you’ll never be able to paint a room with it, either. If you have five characters in your story who are, deep down, all the same type with similar traits, skill sets, and pasts, you have one hammer - several times, so you will have reserves when one breaks, but it’s essentially the same hammer five times. If you have five characters in your story with different traits, skill sets, and pasts, you have a small toolbox and can not only hammer in nails (and pull them out, perhaps), but you can also get the screws in and out, saw the excess off a board, and paint a room. Suddenly, the situations you put the characters in can have a lot more different solutions and you can have a lot more different situations in the story as well.
While stories usually revolve around at least one character, namely the protagonist, not all plots have to be directly tied to them. They have friends, lovers, adversaries and those, too, can have their plot to follow. Generally speaking, all characters whose job is more than ‘sell the hero some provisions’ (what you’d call an NPC in role-playing) should have a plot to themselves. That plot can tie in with the main plot arc, but it doesn’t necessarily have to. The hero’s old friend using the search for the MacGuffin to see his estranged sister is a fine plot arc to have, but the sister doesn’t have to tie in with anything. She might simply provide the party with a place to sleep and some provisions after she and her brother have gotten things out of the way.
In short: Characters are there to act out your plots.
Let’s say you want to write a heist story. Someone is going to bring together a group of people to steal the MacGuffin from the villain who has gotten it unrightfully and is withholding it from its real owner (the protagonist or someone the protagonist cares about). Heist stories are great for diverse casts, because the team in a heist story is made up of experts in various fields (which, naturally, makes them a toolbox, not a stack of hammers). Your throughline is the heist. That’s what motivates the protagonist, that’s where the biggest stakes are. The characters all have to contribute to this plot arc, but they also all can have one to themselves. As a matter of fact, a heist story usually does have a personal arc for every character on the protagonist’s side (and for the protagonist). Bringing the team together means to have every of the characters go through their arc before the big confrontation (in this case the heist itself), so that they can become a team and work together. Once their arcs are all tied up nicely and the protagonist has sorted out their wants and needs, the heist will be pulled off, the villain will be punished, and the MacGuffin will go to whoever really deserves it. (That’s why I think, by the way, that if you want a modernized version of Robin Hood, it should be a heist story. The original is ideal, having a cast of diverse characters with different skill sets and traits - not to mention the ‘steal from the rich and give to the poor’ thing.)
Characters and plot are very closely connected, but they’re not the same. At any given time, there’s a variety of characters which you can connect to the same plot and a variety of plots the same character can act in. It’s important to build yourself a toolbox before you go into writing and to make sure you have all tools necessary - so all characters you will need - to finish the throughline successfully.
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