Ask the Author–When you write, what comes first, the plot or the characters?

October is here! I know fall starts in September, but it doesn’t always feel a lot like fall until October. Especially this year. September has felt more like an extension of August. Hopefully, it will actually start to cool down a little bit this month. At least the nights are getting cooler now. Anyhow, on a totally different topic, the question for today is: When you write, what comes first, the plot or the characters?

And my answer is, it depends. For me, a lot of the time, it is a character who catches my attention first. Often times I’ll just draw a person from my imagination and suddenly realize they have a story I could write. Sometimes I can picture a personality in my mind and I have thought up a scenario for them before they ever even make it onto paper as a drawing.

When it isn’t the characters who come first, it is oftentimes not an entire plot, but more of a scenario that comes to my mind. Thoughts like “What if this happened to someone?” Then I can make up a character to fit that experience and only then will it expand into a full plot.

The funny thing is, I don’t usually come up with one or the other in complete isolation. I need a good character to really progress with a plot, but I need a good plot that tests my character to really get to know them well. They kind of work together, so while I might start with one or the other, I don’t get very far on either without a bit of both.

Would/Do you figure out your plot or characters first?