“What came first the chicken or the egg?”
This question has been posed to most of us since grade school and despite advanced academic degrees, no one has been able to answer it.
In the world of writing, we having a question that will make the chicken and the egg look like a brunch special. What comes first plot or character? I would dare to say plot and character are birthed simultaneously, yet one forms the other.
For example, an author is walking through the mall and sees a sixteen year old Lolita flirting with a young mall cop after she stole some earrings from Sears. In the womb of the author’s mind, the premise for a story is conceived. A young, new teacher must defend himself after allegations he had an affair with the school slut.
At the moment the Lifetime movie of the Week idea popped into the author’s head, plot and character were born.
Plot: A teacher must defend his innocence.
Character: Teacher, Student
At this point, what does the author do? He rushes over to Chick Fil-A, buys a lemonade, sits in a quiet spot, takes out his notepad and begins to write…but what?
He writes down the basic premise. At this point, anything he had to do at the mall is eclipsed by the story gestating in his mind. He rushes home to get to his word processor.
It is at this point that he has a choice. He has been taught in writing courses and various books on writing two conflicting ideas on how to tackle plot and character.
Idea I: Know your plot and your characters will grow from there.
The author begins to write the story. It is the young, new teacher’s first day. He is excited about instilling the minds of his students with the works of literature. He begins his class and in comes a tardy student, Kelly McDonald. He has heard of her from the students. She’s the head cheerleader and school slut. Kelly sits in a desk in the front row, says her locker was stuck which is why she was late, and finally crosses her legs pretending to be a high school Catherine Tramell.
Eight chapters in, the teacher and Kelly have had several inappropriate sexual encounters. Many scenes are conflict-less because the author doesn’t know where the characters come from, but he’s growing with them. He’s discovering them, like a miner in the Old West searching for gold.
As he writes, he creates subplots involving Kelly’s older sister named Rachel. The author mentions in a bit of exposition that the teacher bedded Rachel when they attended the high school years ago. Also, Rachel and Kelly have intense sibling rivalry. 100,000 words in, the author has discovered Rachel and Kelly are part of a conspiracy to bring down all teachers and rule the world. Mwa ha ha.
Thus, his plot has created his world-dominating, teacher destroying sisters.
Idea II: Develop characters first and your “true” plot will spring forth.
The author creates a folder on his computer for his new work. He organizes it to his liking. In one document, he creates a list of characters, whose names all begin with a different letter mind you, and their role: Antagonist, protagonist, ally, love interest, mentor, minion.
He then details the history of the teacher. He creates a protagonist who wants to teach and influence kids because of his own high school English teacher. He also wants to atone for a life he had in college which caused his college sweetheart to go down a dark road. He creates an antagonist, Kelly, who has been hurt by the males in her life and sees the teacher as someone who cares about her instead of just her body, but all she knows is to use sex as an weapon, bargaining tool, or gift of thanks.
Thus, he has fully formed characters who are driving massive conflicts and a plot which will hopefully keep the readers hooked to page 312. The idea and his original plot has changed from “A boring student-teacher affair defense” to “A teacher wants to atone for his sins by reforming the life of the high school harlot and ends up getting falsely accused.”
Am I an expert on plot and character? No. Have I learned about them and come far? Yes. Unfortunately, I am in a camp in a world full of camps: Liberals vs Conservatives, Democrats vs Republicans, Watermelon vs Sour Apple Jolly Ranchers.
What do I focus on after an idea has been birthed? Character. The more you know about your characters before writing will help to make deeper well rounded characters who brings out conflict. However, I am sure to get others who disagree. They may believe the only way to truly know a character is to write and have them show the author who they are. They may be right. I may be wrong, but there’s one thing we both agree on. After writing for several hours, bring us the blasted chicken and egg. We’re hungry!
Keep Writing. Keep Creating.
