Making flesh and blood out of paper and cardboard part 1
What makes a three-dimensional character? Part 1: Paper
When we were talking worldbuilding on a FantaSci panel last month we panelists were asked about how we came up with our stories? Was it idea first, or plot, or what? And we all have different ways of doing things which is why there were seven answers even though we only had six panelists (I kid; sort of).
Okay, mine was the sixth and seventh answer, I admit it. Since Baen Books just announced Threading the Needle, I talked about Talia Merritt (the protagonist). I often start with an idea (such as r/K evo-bio for Ravages of Honor) or a milieu (such as “What if El Dorado were a space opera?” for Threading the Needle) but my stories are always, first and foremost, about characters and I spend far more time on my characters than I do on the idea or the milieu. Why? Because people re-read to be with the characters, not to find out what happened (the plot). There is no discovery of milieu or idea/concept in a re-read. Not if you paid attention the first time through.
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