Character and Story

[Chu]

When I read, write, or even watch TV, I typically get more out of characters than stories. I couldn't care less about the story as long as the characters are realistic, so I like seeing them change and grow as the series progresses.

Of course, I'm not saying that the story doesn't need any attention as long as the characters are good. I just put more work into character development than other things. What do you do?

[Sly]

Personally, I'm a huge fan of character development. Story is important too, but as long as the story is passable and there are good characters with a lot of development, I'll still watch or read a story.

In my own writing, I spend a tremendous amount of time developing individual characters, as well as character interactions. My plots tend to be character-driven.

[Sharm]

A really strong story can make you forget how flat the characters are for a short time, but a good set of characters can even make a bad plot good, or at the very least interesting and something you want to come back to again later.

In my mind it goes like this: Character>Plot>Dialogue>Setting>Uniqueness. Usually in my fiction the characters aren't as strong as they should be and end up somewhere after plot. I need to work on that.

[Chu]

What kinds of character or plot building activities do the two of you do?

As simple as it may seem, I start by making profiles for my characters. I add a little more than most people seem to add though, like life philosophy, conflict resolution styles, relationship styles, and religious affiliation. Making things seem cut-and-dry for even a moment helps me narrow the field and write better dialogue.

Although, the downside to that is that my characters sometimes turn out to be pretty one-dimensional. I need to work on putting some of the human aspect back in there. Even though your life philosophy may be to go with the flow, sometimes you will resist the current. I neglect the fact that our words and actions contradict each other a lot. When I forget that, things get boring.

[Sharm]

I'm more of a discovery writer, I figure out enough to have guideposts for what I'm doing like say "the younger prince is the one who's always angry, the older one is the hyper competent but doesn't care type" and usually as I write the nuances come out and they become really interesting all by themselves. Most of my characterization problems are from not coming up with the guidepost and trying to make the character suit the plot instead.

[Revolushion]

I have to agree wholeheartedly with this; Character development has always been my biggest draw towards any story. Plot is of course very important, but you can get by with less of a plot and better characters a lot easier than the other way around. To me, when I read or watch a movie or whatever, I find the plot can be as amazing and original as it gets, but if the characters are crap, I just do something else.

In my own writing, while I try to balance everything, I spend most of my time on my characters. I like rping with my fiance using new characters to help flush out their responses to situations I haven`t planned out - it helps get a feel for their personalities quite nicely.

[Juneberry]

I like a mix of story and character driven things, but I prefer it to be primarily character driven. Story-driven plots tend to get boring easily, because they don't develop the characters enough to care for them often. With character driven, I start feeling like I'm in the story much more easily. I try to write that way because of it. And in the end, I think the characters do most of the work for me.

[Revolushion]

I have to agree with you there, Juneberry. xD When I write, most of the time I honestly have very little in mind about what I'm writing, because the characters take care of it all. It's their story after all, not mine.

[stazzy]

I often come up with characters that I think are wonderful... and then I seem to have nowhere to put them! It helps me to describe a person, or a group, or someone's emotions as the setting instead of actually describing the physical setting.
I try to come up with a simple plot and complex characters, and let them take it from there. They say 'show don't tell' so I try to adhere to that rule when writing.
It's also easier to fall in love with a character than with a plotline, and easier to kill a character than an entire plotline. My high school writing teacher told me to 'kill my darlings' because it made for a better story. When I followed his advice, it made for more emotional reading than interesting reading, but to me that's what fiction is all about.

[superbinka]

I tend to come up with a concept for a story first, and then develop the characters. And then I write. The plot just kind of happens.