Pebblepup's Writing Den

Sometimes when you’re writing fiction, you can start with an idea for the story. Or you can start with an idea for a character. I’m currently developing a story in which I have started with a witch. I developed the character. Then I gave her a premise, a story problem. That’s how you do it. You take a character and give them a problem to solve.

So, you’ve got your character. You’ve given them a problem to solve. Now you should give them some friends to help them out. Throw in someone who’s working against them. And there’s your conflict that drives your story. Throw in some more project problems. These are smaller problems the characters must solve to solve the main problem. Throw in a few blind alleys that they take to try to solve their problem. You can build on this as you go along. Whether you’re a Pantser, if you’re a plotter, you can go ahead and outline what you’re going to do. Or you can begin writing. This is the point where you add the things you’re going to do to your character.

All you need to do to write a story is build on what you’ve got. You’ve got some story problems that your characters have to solve. Whether you start with that or with the character, it doesn’t matter. But starting with a character can be fun. Get to know the character. What scares them? Have them confront something that scares them. You can do anything you want to that character. Of course, if you kill the character, you’ve ended your story, but the point is you can do what you need to do. To get the story going. And what’s going on with it and get it going and continue it. Add in a few more problems, increase the pressure. When you’ve taken your character almost beyond endurance. Then you can start letting them have few successes. Of course, it’s also fun to give them a few successes. teas them by making them think they’re getting their problem solved. Then knock their feet out from under them. You can be quite mean to your characters if you want to be. Guide them to a problem-solving solution.

Whether you’re a planner or a pantser, it doesn’t matter. Starting with a character can be fun. You get to know that character as you go along, or even before you start, depending on which you prefer. Then you mess with the character. Have them stumble on their own before you introduce a friend. Give them a push off a cliff. Let them fall a bit before you have them discover they had a rope and it’s attached to somebody who’s helping them. Keep secrets from your character. Don’t let them have all the information at the beginning, that wouldn’t be much fun.

Introduce them to characters who have an answer that might point them in the right direction. Or those characters are working against them and sending them in the wrong direction. This is what we mean by a character driven story. So take a character, give them a problem, and send them on their way with a gentle push or a rough push. Have fun with them. Good luck and keep writing.