Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47552
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

A respected creative writing professor of mine always says that **plot is character**. Repetitive or stale plots can be saved by interesting, original characters. Boring characters can't be redeemed by an interesting plot.

> Is crafting characters before plot a bad choice?

No, not at all

> which one is most objectively better to start with?

I don't think there can be any objective answers in writing - if it works for you then it works for you. It's why you'll find that a lot of 'writing advice' from famous authors is contradictory.

Your plot should be character driven. Having a different MC should change what happens in your story (i.e they shouldn't be replaceable). Your MC has specific traits that take them wherever they will after the **inciting incident**.

Take the example of Harry Potter. Once the stage is set and Harry is in school, what's the inciting incident for book one? When do our protagonists start breaking away from the status quo (studying, learning about the world, etc)? When Harry thinks that Snape is trying to steal the Stone. If Hermione was the MC, the one who saw that, she wouldn't have jumped to that conclusion. If it was Ron, he wouldn't have thought to go talk to Hagrid about it.

You say you have a loose idea of a plot. That's honestly great, imo. It means that you have a lot of wriggle room to let the characters develop on their own. Put them all in the inciting incident and see what happens, how they react to it.

One reason you might have trouble starting is if you're trying to write the beginning/introduction to the story. I think this is especially difficult with fantasy stories, where you have this amazing idea but you first need to set the stage and explain each and every one of your 12 fantasy clans so that the idea makes sense. Pretend like the world you're writing about is already well established, and start where the real story starts. Introductions can be added later.

I usually like to start with some character establishing scenes, even though they generally get cut or rearranged in later edits. It helps me understand who I'm writing about and what they're going to do when they get their Hogwarts Letter.'

* * *

Thanks @Amadeus : Here, I misuse the phrase 'inciting incident'. What I mean is the event that kickstarts the real plot of the story after the world is established for the audience.

Original score: 2