Which came first: the characters or the story?

[LadyErynn10]

I never really thought about it....

I suppose for me it can go both ways. I've had characters spawn from story ideas, and story ideas spawn from characters. Although I personally believe that finding an idea to fit a character is usually more fun

[botulismfreak]

This one's a toughie. When I come up with characters, the story usually comes when I flesh it them out through scenes or short stories. I've had several characters that have unique characteristics, but until I put them in a situation and think about how they would react, I don't have a story to tell. My favorite way to describe it is "what would happen if?" Sometimes I usually have a general story line or plot I wish to follow, but my usual intent never turns into the result I get.

Here's an example:
I created an eccentric former mercenary in a little short story once, then ended up with a book about her foray into becoming an owner and CEO of a private weapons development company, all with her running around with green hair and fighting with congresssmen.

See what happens when you play "what would happen if?"

[lyndsie_anna]

It honestly depends on the story for me. I have a few characters stashed away that I periodically work on, but generally with this, they're on hold because their stories haven't come to me yet. A lot of the time, I start out with a free writing exercise and let everything come in a stream-of-consciousness fashion.

[DarrenHPryce]

For me, first characters came with the story. Although, in my second book I think, the idea was followed by the story and then the character came up. But the story changed with him, so it's a tricky path.

[britt1125]

For me I make the story and the create the characters as I feel that they need be to fit the part. But the process is different for everyone. I also find that making an out line kills my muse and then I don't know where to go from there. So most of the time I make a rough outline that has very few details and then run with it. I'm also not a professional so I may just be going about it in an odd way.

[Anita Olsen]

It probably depends on the writer. Some likes to have a story, a sort of frame to work with while writing, others prefer to just jump into it, whatever works for the writer I guess. Asking if the story came before the characters or that the characters came before the story, feels like asking oneself the eternal question of which came first, the chicken or the egg?

[jhollan2]

A little of both for me. I do a lot of daydreaming and spacing out and playing with what ifs. Sometimes, a character will just come to me and I can flesh her (or him) out right away. I just sit down and get it all written up, then the plot usually follows from that. What I think that character would do in whatever situation I imagine. Other times, I imagine a scene very clearly, and then try to piece together what events would best get the characters to that scene. It depends on what I am writing and how serious I am about it. I can only seriously work on one thing at a time, so I have dozens of characters and scenes that have come to me that are still only fragments.

[KLyons1]

As with others on this thread, it depends. Sometimes, the 'what if?' for a story strikes, and in thinking about what could happen I also start developing the people who are involved.

Other times, a character appears, and in working out who they are and where they came from I also figure out what story of theirs is waiting to be told. If this happens, then other characters develop as I work out the story, but I have yet to have two characters come to me both demanding attention simultaneously - I'm not sure how it would work out if that happened.

[agoodbook03]

Watch the pilot episode of the X-files. The way they establish the characters along with the story is natural, it helps you understand who the characters are, makes you care about them, and makes the story perfectly clear.

[shiv123]

My friend is a writer, and the other day she explained to me something that I found very interesting. She keeps a collection of characters that she has created, some fully fleshed out, and then thinks up stories that those characters can fit into.

This just seemed like a very interesting - but unusual - method. I always assumed that any writer of fiction thinks up a story and then fleshes its characters later. So, to any writers out there: Do you use a similar method? Or, have you ever heard of anyone else using this process?

I think story comes first and then characters are developed according to story.

[agoodbook03]

Characters have a life before and after a story.

[jhollan2]

Characters have a life before and after a story.

This is something I can never get my brother to understand. I'll be talking about a character (like she is a real person) and be like "Well, she used to be [this]" or "She used to do [that]' and he's always getting frustrated with me and telling me that, actually, she didn't used to do anything because she is not real. We fight a lot about this.

[agoodbook03]

Characters have a life before and after a story.

This is something I can never get my brother to understand. I'll be talking about a character (like she is a real person) and be like "Well, she used to be [this]" or "She used to do [that]' and he's always getting frustrated with me and telling me that, actually, she didn't used to do anything because she is not real. We fight a lot about this.

It can lead to some surprisingly heated debates. I do improvisational, long-form comedy, and this topic has brought quite a few theatre nerds close to raining blows on each other.

[arapier]

Sometimes I think of random characters, or I create ones randomly as an exercise, but if I'm actually setting out to write something fleshed out and everything, I find I actually have an inkling of the plot or situation first, and then I create characters to put in it. Then, after the people are in place I refine the details of what happens. I think it's important to have the characters some early in the process because the story is shaped and moved along by their decisions.

-- 14 Feb 2014, 20:06 --

Characters have a life before and after a story.

This is something I can never get my brother to understand. I'll be talking about a character (like she is a real person) and be like "Well, she used to be [this]" or "She used to do [that]' and he's always getting frustrated with me and telling me that, actually, she didn't used to do anything because she is not real. We fight a lot about this.

It can lead to some surprisingly heated debates. I do improvisational, long-form comedy, and this topic has brought quite a few theatre nerds close to raining blows on each other.

There's a thin line to this, because really, the characters don't exist outside of what the author made them. So if the author gave them a back story, great, they have a back story. But it's immature analytically to say that "if this happened instead, then...", or "if the story when on then they would do this..." because they didn't. It isn't as if we're speculating on real events, in which every conceivable outcome is a possibility. But in a book or story, nothing exists outside of what the author wrote. Don't get me wrong, I speculate and imagine as much as anyone. (I love to write fanfiction, which requires that you do exactly what I just said not to.) But if you're trying to analyse or review something in a professional setting, or around people who either don't read or read very avidly, you're not going to sound like you know what you'r talking about if you refer to events and characters in a story outside of what the author wrote them as. On a happier and less accusatory note, when you write something and create characters for it, you can do or say whatever the frick frack patty wack you want with them because they're yours, and your the god of whatever universe you created them for.

[Katherine E Wall]

I think every writer is different, and for that matter, often it varies depending on the story. That being said, I have a town full of people, many who will someday get their own stories. Often, my secondary characters become so interesting, I realize they need their stories told as well.

Generally, I begin with a character with a need, desire, or challenge first. I walk around with their story percolating within me, and eventually, I am ready to write it down. By that time, I feel like I have crawled inside their skin, and I have to get their story down on paper. What I love is when a principle character from one story becomes a secondary or tertiary character in another. I love the feeling of community it builds in many of my short stories. I even have drafted a map of their fictional town. (Thank-you Dad, for letting the child-me hover over your desk when you were working on town plans.) So when a character walks to Stoddard's hardware store to buy a rake, they pause to admire the swans on the pond, or give in to the tantalizing aroma of fresh-baked goods from Russo's bakery.

Occasionally, I write about characters outside my town, but even if it is not overtly stated in the story, I know they have a tie to the community in some way. It keeps me grounded as I explore their stories.