How do you make active characters for a plot that is driven by external forces ?

Well, if you look at the marketplace in the last 15 years, it gives some credence to Rosacrvx's assertion.
The biggest things in popular fiction have mostly been written by women (Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, 50 Shades of Stupid), all are a return to character driven stories.

I can usually tell the gender of a writer within a few sentences.

 

The last three of which have "superficial characters and overly choreographed action scenes", which is apparently what male authors do, an assertion that @Spencer1990 was querying.

 

I'll have to take your word on it... I've only read the Harry Potter books, of which three are worth remembering.

You actually read the Twilight series, and 50 Shades? I wouldn't be so open about that.

 

"Read" is a strong word. I read the first Twiglet out of curiosity. My mother owns Fufty Shades (and the sequals) and I have read parts of it while visiting, again out of curiosity, but that book is unreadable.

 

In the same genre, older works than those mentioned,

Anne Rice, I know every character as if I'd met them myself,

Stephen King, I read "Salem's Lot" and decided to watch the movies from then on (cardboard characters, not much to add by reading the books).

Of course this is also a matter of personal taste. What I think it's a well done character by a female writer may seem like a soap opera character to a male reader, but we'll have to disagree.

 

Yes indeed, that is a writer whose been forgotten... or perhaps should be rediscovered by younger readers... Anne Rice.

Anne Rice did vampires properly, and made gothic literature readable again. There's a very real creepiness about some of her characters that comes by way of imagery and nuance. Her characters aren't so much introduced to the reader, as they sort of sneak up on you, tap you on the shoulder... and seem to be eyeing a soft spot on your neck.