: 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

@Speyer920

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An old riddle asks, which came first, the chicken or the egg? Of course, after the Theory of Evolution, we know that eggs came before chickens, but that is not applicable to writing.

Which comes first, the plot or the characters?

In Rudyard Kipling's poem "In the Neolithic Age" he claimed: "there are nine and sixty ways of writing tribal lays. And every single one of them is right."

Some writers, especially in science fiction and fantasy, think of a setting first, and then create plots and characters suitable for the setting.

Some writers, especially in science fiction, think of an idea or concept first, and then create a plot and characters and setting around that idea of concept.

Some writers, especially in mystery stories, think of a basic plot, a mystery and its solution, first, and then create more plot, and characters, and setting, etc. based on the basic plot.

And some writers think of characters first, and then think of plots they could experience and/or cause.

Some writers have dreams, and then base stories on them, changing details to make the plots and settings and characters more realistic.

And in my experience, imagining plot and characters goes hand in hand. Every new plot detail helps determine the personalities of the character(s) involved. Every personality trait of a character makes them more or less probable to behave in various ways, thus predetermining their likely actions in various situations and thus predetermining various plot details.

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