Which came first: the characters or the story?
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Re: Which came first: the characters or the story?
Create your characters in a certain setting and then let them grow and propagate as themselves rather than fitting them to a role to make things happen as you want them to. I find that way it also makes stories write themselves, or rather, letting your characters write their own plot!
But it does really depend on the genre and what you want to accomplish.
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― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
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a series of prompts given us by the moderator of a writing group we both belong to.
He said he finally understood my methodology: you have none. You start somewhere
and let the words and ideas feed off one another. What's created is completely improvised. It is presented in a familiar format, and not a nonsensical array of words
(that's what John Coltrane's experiments sound like to me.) I've had limited contact with nuanced writing, but I believe "free form" is a fair appraisal. When I see the words
in tandem, I think of Steve Winwood, "The Low Spark of High Heel Boys" As often as I've listened to it, I've never tried to decipher it. I think that it is Winwood's genius and
should remain unconfined. I "wrote" this two minutes ago. Her virginity was very special to her. She referred to the act that would take her virginity as "deflowered."
She used the term so often, she'd made a whore out of it. Her latest update considered
the possibility of shedding her albatross in an aquatic environment. "I hope it's the
shallow end of the pool. I'm a terrible swimmer."
NB: I think my friend was very kind. I'm not a genius and am not comparing myself to
Winwood or Coltrane or anyone. There is no one theme or character running through
the body of literature I've produced. But there needs to be. Or I'll just be stuck with a
million pieces to a million jig saw puzzles. How you gonna build a railroad with that?
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by a couple who owned a dog with an unusual name. The dog's name is reflective
of the way they lived their lives. And serves as a metaphor for the life they lived in Mexico. They were reckless.
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However, I do have characters that I have thought of, but haven't used. I have a folder on my computer chock full of random character sketches. Most of them I will probably never use, but some will find their story.
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