: Re: What should come first—characters or plot? I'm starting a new fantasy story, and although I had a loose idea of plot, I began sculpting my characters before writing anything. Creating images

@Gonzalez219

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I always start with characters.
For me, as a discovery writer, characters drive the story, when I'm looking for a new idea, I look for a new MC, until one grabs me. Then I think about that MC obsessively for about a week, not writing anything down, just thinking about her (usually a her).
Specifically I think about her normal life, what she does for a living (her profession or normal life is usually the first thing I decide), what her special talent X is, what her special weakness Y is, and finally, what her problem is going to be.
Her problem needs to be something that does not seem soluble with her special talent X, and demands the talent that she doesn't have, i.e. her problem attacks her special weakness Y (whatever she is worse at than most people).
That's not a plot, I don't know the twists and turns, or the betrayals, or the surprises. I'll devise those later, as I need them. But I DO devise a likely ending that will have my MC overcome her weakness, and at least partially rely on her special talent. So there is going to be a twist, at first it doesn't look like she can use talent X, but eventually situations arise in which X is useful after all, it does provide advances in the story line. But she still does not succeed until the middle of the third act, and the solution is 100% dependent on overcoming weakness Y, not on X at all. X can come into play before that, or after that, but is not the Key to victory.
Imagine her strength X is a magical ability, and her weakness Y is gullibility. In order to finally succeed, she has to overcome gullibility -- realize someone has lied, and betrayed her, and she is in the middle of a trap that will cost her everything.
Her magic doesn't help her realize this, she has learned something through her experiences in the story, and somehow (I would guess by analogies to those experiences) she realizes there is a trap that would kill her, just in time to escape it, or turn it on the villain. The realization is the key, the villain is relying on her gullibility, but after the realization and certainty, she can rain magic on her enemies like lightning bolts.
That's as much as I "plot". I begin the book (see links below), and have my characters interact as they will. Because I know Story Structure, I know where they have to go and be at each point of the story, what kind of writing is needed as we progress through the pages, when we need complications and disagreements and conflicts, when we need agreement. I know she has to learn these lessons, for one, usually by failing. She has a weakness! It keeps getting punched! She fails to learn, again and again, with some successes to keep her from giving up. But whatever the stakes are keep her from giving up too, something (or someone) she loves is on the bubble if she fails completely, so she has to keep getting back up every time she gets knocked down.
You need a character with a weakness, and a problem, with at least one plausible solution you can work toward. (If, while I am writing, I think of a better or more surprising solution, I switch to it, and revise what I have written, as needed. I have changed the ending four times while writing a novel, just because I realized better endings I could make work.)
I suggest these earlier answers of mine, they might help you too:
The Psychology of Starting a Piece of Writing.
Do I Need to Start Off My Book By Describing The Character's Normal World.

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