Some writers say they start with their plot, then figure out characters to fit into it. Others start with characters in mind, then come up with a plot.

Personally ... I don't typically do either of those! Instead, I start with a situation, which contains some kind of germ of both plot and characters. I suppose it's a bit like a story seed or kernel.

When I wrote Lycopolis, for instance, my story seed was "a group of online friends summon an evil demon into their game ... and their world." Within that seed, there's a sense of both plot (the summoning of the demon that's the inciting incident for the novel) and characters (I needed enough to be a group of friends, and there needed to be tension and conflict between them).

I jotted down occasional ideas about the plot and characters for a long time before I started writing, but when I sat down to work on the novel in a more concentrated way, one of the first things I produced was a mindmap of characters and the links and relationships between them.

Maybe you come up with characters in a different way. You might find that a character pops into your mind, the core details of them already in place. Perhaps you're inspired by someone you know, or someone you saw in passing; maybe your character is based on a historical figure or even on a character from another story.

I think it helps not to force things, when it comes to creating characters. If you want your characters to feel like real people with a life off the page, before and after the story itself, then you don't want to create them by going through a dutiful checklist of eye color and hair color.

Instead, focus on who your characters are, as people. Do they have guilty secrets? Do they have a goal that they're working desperately towards? Do they have serious flaws that they need to overcome in order to live a happier life?

Those are the sorts of questions that can help give you real insight into your characters. But don't feel you need to answer them straight off. Take time to daydream, to make notes, to write some exploratory early draft scenes. You might find that your characters turn out to be deeper, richer, more interesting people than you initially thought.

Happy writing,

Ali

P.S. If you missed last week's blog post, you can find it here:

The Four Essential Qualities You Need for Freelance Writing Success (and How to Develop Them)