Should the character fit the story or the story fit the character?

I'd have to disagree with Mr. Nabokov here. My characters aren't my slaves, they're more like people who are willing to put up with whatever plot I throw at them, but if they think of a better idea; or think that I'm forcing them to do something they wouldn't do, they let me know. They mold the plot just as much as the plot molds them.

 

I'd disagree with him to for much the same reason.

Completely unrelated: It's funny. There's an antagonist in my last two novels named Vladimir Nabrokov. I came up with that name completely unaware (consciously, at least) of that author.

 

Long after I observe a work of fiction, the characters usually leave a far greater lasting impact than the plot. So I am inclined to say the characters should drive the story rather than that the characters should be designed just to fill in the blanks of a plot that was already designed for its own sake.

But it might happen that any given author tries specifically to write compelling characters and ends up with an amazing plot and only decent characters, or vice versa. The process cannot necessarily predict the result.

 

I always come up with a plot to begin with, then a character that will fit. My characters take over from here, as they tend to firm their own stories. But both has to go with the other, I think that's the clue.

 

I tend to come up with a simple situation, visualise characters in that situation, then go from there, developing both a story and the characters together. However, it's hard to come up with a situation that doesn't contain characters, so the two kind of happen at the same time, really.

I suppose if you write a series around a particular set of characters, your characters obviously will come first—at least by the time you get to the second book. Or if you're obsessed with a particular time and place your setting will come first. Or if you decide you want to write a murder mystery, you'll start with a story idea and create characters and settings around that idea.

The only problem comes if you develop one aspect far more thoroughly than the others. They really should all evolve together, so it's not possible for a reader to 'tell' whether you began with the chicken or the egg. That's a good sign that your story is working well.

 

Strong characters can carry weak plots, but strong plots can't make up for weak characters.

 

I haven't read most other peoples answers forgive me if I am doubling up but I feel that the answer is probably the latter. I am a long time fan of fan fiction because more often then not, people present you with classic cases of what not to do. Perhaps one of the most common mistakes is making the main character super powered for example. Without much in the way of a struggle on their part, the story becomes very predictable. You know what's going to happen if your hero wins all the time. The character also suffers because the events they are going through do nothing to develop them as a person.

A story is a series of events and how your character reacts to them. It is also however, true that events can occur directly because of a choice a character makes. Your character shouldn't always win either. In fact, they should loose the majority of the time until they change enough to start winning. If they keep choosing the same course then events will repeat themselves most likely. That is usually your climax when your character finally beats the odds when he/she realises what they must do ultimately to achieve their goal. In saying all that however, how can you decide how your character will react if you don't know anything about them? I think the recipe for success goes something like: develop your character and then introduce them to the catalyst event. You don't have to know what your character will be like at the end of the story. You can be flexible as much as you want. That is the joy of writing. Of course, you can certainly have a general idea. Eg: in Harry Potter our lead starts out alone and wishing for a family of his own. He gets that family in the end but 11 year old Harry couldn't have imagined all the things he would have to go through to achieve that dream. Family actually meant learning about bonds, love, forgiveness, dealing with loss and a whole host of other problems and still deciding if it was worth it in the end. And of course, the villain, our Lord Voldemort, was faced with the same choices as Harry and chose the opposite of our hero which ultimately meant Harry's triumph.

It is a tricky question you posed. However, I hope my reply will provide you with some food for thought. Happy writing!

 

I usually come up with an interesting story or plot, in which I then insert various characters as demanded by plot. This is the inception phase--when I plan and orient myself to what the story could be like. At that point, characters are only the actors of a decided script--hinges to move the story along. They may be one thing or another as needed e.g. for the current novel I'm working on, I started in my head with the image of a White Caucasian cop as the protagonist, who had a cheery blonde girlfriend. It's only really when I start to write it that I get clear image in my head as to who these people are. And then, I feel, as these characters develop, the story may change too. For instance, in a previous novel I wrote, I changed the ending entirely because halfway through I realized that the characters I had conceived would never do this. In my current novel, trend dictates the two protagonists, being romantically attracted to each other, should have some tangible relationship, but as I have developed my characters, I know they cannot, would not, be in a carnal relationship. I now know a lot more about the cop and his motivations than I did before, and they have influenced not only the plot itself, but the pace and focus of my storytelling.

I would add, though, that while the direction of the process does not matter (whether the plot came first or the characters), strong characters make excellent stories, wherever you put them--but a strong story itself cannot carry itself forward without strong characters. It's a bit of a stretch, but I think that series of novels, especially detective stories, rely exclusively on the interest and enigma generated by the characters, and while the story is what drives the interest of the reader, it is through the detective's lens that we conceive it as meaningful and compel. Strong characters really make the story, because you see them beyond the narrow focus of a jumble of incidents the novel talks about--you see them pervade the book and enter existence. A good story, no matter how excellent, is just one story. Unless the characters inspire you, you might not see it as a part of someone's experience, as a living, breathing, exciting entity.