I'm a new blogger here at Beyond the Veil! My name is Leslie Dicken and write paranormals, fantasy and historicals (gothic and steampunk). Guess I can't settle on just one subgenre! But one thing is the same no matter what type of story I'm writing: plot comes first.
I'm supposed to write about specific characters, ones I love or hate, but I'd rather talk about how creating characters comes SECOND when I'm brainstorming a story.
I hear over and over again how authors come up with their characters...THEN they figure out the plot or storyline that works for that character. I heard that J.K. Rowling came up with Harry Potter, the character, while on a train ride. She didn't think of Hogwarts or the Sorcerer's Stone, but of the boy who was a wizard and lived with his muggle aunt and uncle.
As for me? I first have an idea of a story or theme or a plot. For example, I wanted to write about a hero who learns he is not an earl, but a bastard (A TARNISHED HEART). Or an alien who dislikes humans but must find one to help his home planet (THE PRICE OF DISCOVERY). Or a society where two cultures have lived apart from one another for so long, they've evolved differently (TABOO). An isolated manor with a hero who thinks he's committed murder (BEAUTY TEMPTS THE BEAST). I've even just wanted to combine various subgenres into one story: steampunk, historical, suspense (THE IRON HEART, Feb 2012).
None of them started with the idea of central character who needed to find a story. They all started with an idea...a plot or theme or just a challenge to myself.
Hopefully, the characters I created for these stories are just as well-developed as those authors who start with character first. :-)
If you're an author, which do you come up with first: character or plot?
As a reader, what makes you feel a connection with a character in a story?
3 comments:
Welcome aboard, Leslie! Hope you enjoyed your first outing. And I think you'll be pleased to know that fabulous writers like Connie Willis see the plot first. The characters come later. It doesn't change the quality of the finished product. It's just the way her--and your--mind work. :-)
Great first post, Leslie!
I don't start with characters or plots, I usually get a single scene and sometimes just a single sentence and then start writing to figure out what's going on and who all is involved. Characters come rather quickly as do plot points, but it's that nebulous excerpt that most often pulls me in. :)
~X
I admit I am a character first sort of gal, as you can see from today's post. Half the time I will know the character intimately before I have any idea what I'm going to do with them.
Moon
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