Which came first: the characters or the story?
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- taykay08
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Which came first: the characters or the story?
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?
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I don't have stock characters, although I definitively can see such an approach working in some cases (eg: writing for licensed books).
- Derek Moore
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That said I have at times created characters and have later used them when forming a new story. I've done the same with settings and snippets of conversations. Sometimes, it can be useful in the early stages of the formation of a story and can help you get through any writer's block you might face. If it is true that creating a book or a short story is like putting a puzzle together, than it makes sense that it might be useful at times to have some of the pieces created as you start.
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Story and character are interwoven, in my opinion. It's like asking after the hen and the egg. There exists neither without the other. They complete each other - a character is nothing without a story which determines the main character's past, present, and future identity. A story is nothing without a doer, an agent.
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