McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Character Development - Chicken or Egg Approach
Lumpy:
I'm one of those guys where everything flows from character. Same plot and/or MacGuffin with different characters gives you completely different stories. If it doesn't, your plot is pushing your characters, not the other way around.
A runaway train is a plot. Watching someone run away from a runaway train is a story. (Or try to stop it, drive it, eat it, turn it into a poodle.) So when I'm stuck writing a scene, or can't figure out how to move the plot forward, I tie someone's shoelaces together (figuratively). Watching them figure it out while the train keeps coming usually provides what the story needs, or what they needed.
Not that plot's not important, clearly. But people relate to other people, and that's characters.
That said, I know I'm ready to write when a) I know the final scene/reveal; and b) I've walked around with my characters long enough that I can hold conversations with them, out loud. (My family's quite used to it, bless them.) Literally acting out scenes in character while I walk around the house or whatever, and the characters say something that reveals something to me I hadn't considered that most always drives the plot forward in a way I hadn't imagined, that's better than what I'd planned. That's when I know the coffee's ready. ;)
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: Lumpy on May 02, 2014, 04:07:19 PM ---I'm one of those guys where everything flows from character. Same plot and/or MacGuffin with different characters gives you completely different stories. If it doesn't, your plot is pushing your characters, not the other way around.
--- End quote ---
That's entirely true, but plot pushing character is not inherently a problem. Look at any number of Hitchcock films, for example, where the plot is basically "Unfortunate random guy falls into scheme of which he knows nothing, and has to run around staying one step ahead of danger while figuring out what is going on"; that's a character literally being pushed in ways he has no desire to go by the plot.
--- Quote ---A runaway train is a plot. Watching someone run away from a runaway train is a story.
--- End quote ---
I'd say, a story is a bunch of events happening in order. A plot is a bunch of events happening in order because one causes another that causes another.
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: OZ on May 02, 2014, 01:38:52 PM ---I didn't check any of the boxes though because the one thing I usually struggle with is names. I will sometimes change the names several times before I find one that feels right.
--- End quote ---
Names are an opportunity; they allow you to imply things about background and social context. The only place I really struggle with them is when I bump into test readers who read by word shape, and who come back saying things like "It's easy to read 'Dumitrov' as 'Dumbledore' so maybe this guy's first name could start with a letter other than A?" because that is entirely not natural to me (because 'Dumitrov' does not sound in the least like 'Dumbledore' at least to me).
OZ:
--- Quote ---Names are an opportunity; they allow you to imply things about background and social context.
--- End quote ---
I think this is one of the reasons that I struggle. I want the names to say something and sometimes I feel like they are not saying what I want them to.
the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
--- Quote from: OZ on May 02, 2014, 11:59:07 PM ---I think this is one of the reasons that I struggle. I want the names to say something and sometimes I feel like they are not saying what I want them to.
--- End quote ---
What sort of setting are you writing in ?
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