What came first? This is the chicken and the egg question for writers. Even though I’m 85% pantser the plot comes to me first. I’ll get an idea for a story and it’s always the plot that plays out in my head. Then I have to come up with characters to populate my story. I’m an action/plot reader. I love lots of action and plot driven stories. Not so much for character driven stories. Yes, I know character drives the plot, but that’s the point. There has to be a plot. There has to be something going on. They have to be doing something. I’ve read books where nothing actually happens. The plot is so thin my two and a half year old niece could blow it away. I keep asking myself when is something going to happen. I like involved, complicated plots. That’s probably why I love spy stories and suspense/thrillers.
Even for my new urban fantasy series the first story came to me first. After I knew the bones about the story the character sprang fully formed complete with angsty backstory. But I had the idea first. I just needed the right character to fill it.
I’m thinking about all of my story ideas. All those half finished, only a proposal, just one chapter stories I have and none of them are character driven. They all have meaty plots that I’ll get to one of these days. Even my historicals had spies and traitors in the mix. My characters had to be searching for something while all the romance stuff was going on. Actually the spying and traitors in the mix helped build the romance.
Maybe that’s why I don’t name my characters right away. Or feel the need to name them right away. The plot comes first for me. So when I first start writing I put in generic names until I really get to know the characters. Then I go back and give them real names.
So what comes first for you? Plot or character?
Until next time…
Cindy
August 4, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Hey, Cindy, thanks for the provocative post. For me, largely a panster, a situation comes first, followed by the characters, followed by the plot. Usually I write 2-3 chapters before sitting down to plot the whole thing out. Yeah, that’s kinda backwards but it’s the way I think.
August 4, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Hey Cindy! For me, characters come first, and usually they’re in a situation which quickly leads to the plot. But always, the characters come first. Usually the names I choose at first are totally random and stupid – one of my books it took me four sets of names to get my hero and heroine to feel right, so it’s not so much the name of the character as the character itself that drives me.
Interesting question, though!
August 4, 2010 at 2:37 pm
:love:
For me it is characters doing or feeling something, Usually a flesh of a character is a situation that I string out into an outline.
Ruth
August 4, 2010 at 5:58 pm
What a great post! I guess for me, it must be the character because I start hearing their conversations and then I’m driven to “do” something with them.
August 6, 2010 at 9:56 pm
Bart, it’s not backwards. It’s what works for you.
Christine, I’ve never had characters come to me first in a situation. That’s cool. Glad I’m not the only one who changes character names until I get the right ones.
Ruth, you get characters doing something first? And you can turn that into a whole plot? That’s cool.
Maeve, I don’t start hearing their conversations until after I’ve come up with the plot and put characters in it.