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ekster · 09-26-2011, 01:40 PM

Hi, as someone a bit new to writing novels, I'm curious to know what do you find more important, characters or story, when it comes to writing.

While I've always loved writing and did quite a few short stories, and a few incomplete attempts at novels, I've started my new novel about which I am a lot more serious on finishing, and with which I am a lot more comfortable. And one thing I realized as I am moving along, is that sometimes my characters just refuse to get along with a story. And that I pick characters over the story every time.

What I mean by that, is that we sometimes come to a point when we need something to happen, but our characters would never do that. e.g. Have a careless, messy, forgetful character somehow remember to bring that one card that he needed, and that he never bothered carrying before, and then chalk it up as 'sheer luck'. If I get to that point, I usually see two ways to go about it: minor (or major, depending on the situation) re-write of the character and make it so that he has reason to have that card after all, or just throw the story in a whole new direction, curse, rip apart the plan for the next 100 pages and create a whole new situation... And that's exactly what I end up doing.

I get attached to the characters far more than I do to the story, and often let the characters write the story. Instead of thinking "they need to break someone out, so character A steals the card and opens the door, character B stays outside as cover, on the way out, they get ambushed but saved by character C", I simply plan that "they need to break him out, character A and B will be involved, they should probably get ambushed at this point. Probably involve character C or D here" and let the majority of it unfold through the characters actions. I like the results a lot more, but I also find myself spending more time on re-planning the story afterwards.

I'm curious what do others chose in these situations, characters or the story itself, and how do you around these roadblocks.

09-26-2011, 01:40 PM	#1
ekster Currently without a title Posts: 203 Karma: 3209914 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Canada, Qc Device: Kobo Touch	Characters vs story Hi, as someone a bit new to writing novels, I'm curious to know what do you find more important, characters or story, when it comes to writing. While I've always loved writing and did quite a few short stories, and a few incomplete attempts at novels, I've started my new novel about which I am a lot more serious on finishing, and with which I am a lot more comfortable. And one thing I realized as I am moving along, is that sometimes my characters just refuse to get along with a story. And that I pick characters over the story every time. What I mean by that, is that we sometimes come to a point when we need something to happen, but our characters would never do that. e.g. Have a careless, messy, forgetful character somehow remember to bring that one card that he needed, and that he never bothered carrying before, and then chalk it up as 'sheer luck'. If I get to that point, I usually see two ways to go about it: minor (or major, depending on the situation) re-write of the character and make it so that he has reason to have that card after all, or just throw the story in a whole new direction, curse, rip apart the plan for the next 100 pages and create a whole new situation... And that's exactly what I end up doing. I get attached to the characters far more than I do to the story, and often let the characters write the story. Instead of thinking "they need to break someone out, so character A steals the card and opens the door, character B stays outside as cover, on the way out, they get ambushed but saved by character C", I simply plan that "they need to break him out, character A and B will be involved, they should probably get ambushed at this point. Probably involve character C or D here" and let the majority of it unfold through the characters actions. I like the results a lot more, but I also find myself spending more time on re-planning the story afterwards. I'm curious what do others chose in these situations, characters or the story itself, and how do you around these roadblocks.