How Creating the Main Character First Can Prevent Writer’s Block

You may have had this problem before: an idea for a story bubbles and boils, ready to explode from the cauldron of your mind and onto the paper or computer screen. But when you get to your desk you’re clueless to how to start writing the story. Or if you do start writing then you come to a halt not even midway through the draft, like when you’re driving a car and then it suddenly dies on you. That’s definitely happened with my writing, especially my fiction, and it’s frustrating as hell. You start with an idea or event for a story, such as an alien plague attack or a stolen talisman (which are not really original ideas but are simply examples I’ll use for the sake of argument) but have no idea where to go with it when you try to write. Sometimes you may not have that problem because, for whatever reason, you already have one of the most important elements of the story in mind--character. However, a lot of times we don’t have our main character, or protagonist, in mind at the rough draft stage and so that may cause us to come to a standstill in the writing process and therefore come to a writer’s block. One of the easiest ways to solve this problem is to create your main character before writing the story.

Credit: Pixabay.com

While I was at the World Science Fiction Convention last year, I attended a writers panel called “Idea Versus Story”. One of the speakers said that if you have a problem writing or developing your story then try starting with the main character rather than just the story idea because, as he put it, “your idea is your character.” This means that in order for your idea to develop into a story there has to be a character. More often than not, there has to be more than one character because in order for there to be events to make up the story characters have to make those events happen. If the characters don’t make the events happen then they need to respond to those events. As people in real life make events that make history, characters in fiction make events that make up the story. There has to be a sentient being in the story--a human, some other species of animal, a living dead person, robot with a conscience, etc.--and so a character to make things happen or to respond to events that are already there and that, in turn, create more events or actions in order for the story to unfold.

If I get a writer’s block during a writing session it’s often because I have a very vague or shallow main character in mind. In that case I’ll stop writing the rough draft and put it on hiatus until I have developed my main character or protagonist by sketching him or her out more. This means I’ll create that character’s character traits list. I’ll write down a list of the main character’s basic physical traits as well as behaviourial ones.

Keep in mind, however, that at the story planning and rough draft level you do not need the main character fully developed. The most important thing at this level is to get the story written before the idea and your enthusiasm for it disappears. So you only need the basic qualities of the main character at this stage, qualities such as his or her physical appearances: hair colour, eye colour, size, weight, etc. You will also need the character’s goal for the story and so will need to know what he or she is trying to achieve and a few behavioural traits that motivates that character to attempt to achieve that goal. For example, I’ll ask myself what my character’s interests are that relate to what he’s trying to achieve. If he’s trying to recover a cursed family heirloom that can release an evil spirit onto the world if in the wrong hands then what are his interests that contribute to his ambition to attempt to recover it? Maybe one of those interests are that he likes collecting old items by shopping at thrift stores and flea markets. Or maybe he’s an advocate for civil rights and is concerned that if the heirloom gets into the hands of a neo Nazi it can mean destruction of all people of colour.

If you have the basics of the main character in mind before writing the story, he or she can react to situations that will help develop it. Other characters can come along during the rough draft process and don’t have to be developed at that point. They only need to help make those situations happen so the story can move along and finally come to a conclusion. The real and full development will come during the revision process.

In real life, in order for events to occur, at least at the human level, people have to be around to make them occur. The same thing goes for fiction. In order for events in a work of fiction to occur, characters need to be there to make them happen and/or to respond to pre-existing events for the story to unfold. So, if you at least know the basic traits of your main character or protagonist ahead of time and, more importantly, his or her goal it will be easier to develop your idea into a full story.

Do you create your main character before writing the story? Have you tried writing the story before creating the main character? Which of these two come easiest to you?

The co-hosts for this IWSG for April are J.H. Moncrieff, Natalie Aguirre, Patsy Collins, and Chemist Ken. Thanks, all of you, for co-hosting!

Until next time . . .