It is a question as old as writing and storytelling itself. What is more important? Good characters or a good plot? What matters? I have asked myself this same question since my very first forays into creative writing. Do I spend time making a compelling drama or should I invest in interesting characters? How about a really interesting world? Where does that fit in? If you are wondering what should come first, the character or the plot, I have an answer for you! Yes.
Together the characters and story take the reader on a journey, but you must have both. You cannot tell a story without character, and you cannot have characters without a setting. World-building is one of the most important aspects of any story whether we realize it or not. This is why I have talked about writing the way I do, first talking about character, then setting, and now plot. These elements cannot exist on their own and will fail if the other two elements are not present. Often I won’t fully develop a plot outline until I have characters and a world for them to live in. Sometimes this means I drop into the writing time with both feet, scrambling with the tide. Other times, when I have enough time to develop things, I can catch a nice big wave at the start and see where it takes me.
Why is world-building so important to building a plot? Because it is from the world that your characters conflict arises. If your main character is a housewife in Average Town, USA then it makes zero sense that someone from the Secret Service would knock on her door to tell her she is the new president. The rules and setting determine how and why the plot arises and will also determine how it is resolved. So maybe your housewife opens the door to find out the secret service wants her in connection to the president’s assassination! Just where is her husband right now? That’s a better plot! (It’s free for you to use dear reader!)
I was taught that plot consists of five elements, exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. This is referred to as Freytag’s pyramid and it is but a single example of how plot can be constructed. It basically goes like this; the opening part of the story introduces us to the main characters and the world this is the exposition. Then with an inciting incident the main subject matter of the story begins (the rising action), this is the primary conflict of the narrative, goals are established and overcome until we reach the climax. This is where the story turns, the protagonist gains the upper hand, the villain makes a critical error, the tide of battle turns. The falling action is the conclusion of the main conflict, where good triumphs over evil, the princess wins her prince. Last comes the denouement where we see the outcome of the plot, catching up with characters after life has regained a sense of normalcy. While this format is useful I also really dislike this structure mostly because it is presented as an equally sided pyramid which gives the impression that these five elements should be equal in length, and they most certainly should not. Most of your story will be rising action building to the climax with a quick falling action and sometimes a nice epilogue chapter for a denouement.
If you want all of that plot to feel real, you need to have it based on the world around your characters. For it to feel organic and immediate the plot needs to rise from the variables that are already in your world. When I am ever at a loss for where the plot should go, I will look to the world-building because my answer will naturally float to the top as I work. This has been doubly true with the newest project, Facet.
I will be working in a new genre with this book, leaning a bit into the horror genre on top of my standard fantasy action and I have no villain. So what the heck was my plot going to be?! I had a character and a basic premise but nothing to drive the action forward. So I took to my notes and fleshed out their magic system, and in the process developed a really great idea, and then I found a location for all of this to happen in my character’s backstory. Nothing happens that cannot be explained by the world-building. Does this mean my characters know what’s about to happen to them? Of course not, and that is half the fun! When you develop your characters and your world at the start and focus less on the plot then you will find that you already have a story to tell right in front of you. It will rise to the top and you just need to write it! This may sound like everything is buttoned up at this point, that I have taken all the creativity and joy out of writing and you could not be further from the truth. Next week let’s see why this leaves a lot of room for intrigue and exploration.