Starting a story with a character

As a writer, I’m sure you’ve been asked at least once in your life “where do you get your ideas?” And if you’re anything like me, you don’t necessarily have an answer. It’s more like, you just start writing something and the ideas kind of pop in on their own.

It’s almost a subconscious thing, and whether you are a strict outliner, a dedicated discovery writers, or somewhere in between, doesn’t really matter. The ideas still just seem to pop in either while you’re writing, or later while your brain is working out the plot.

Regardless, we all need to start a story, either on paper or in our heads, so that we have somewhere for those ideas to live after they do pop in.

So with that said, I’d like to spend the next few posts looking at some of the starting points. What I’d like to think of as the first “idea” that becomes a story. And since I often began a story with a character, that’s the first starting point I’ll talk about.

Brainstorming with a character first

One of the quickest ways to get started writing is to simply make up a character and have that character start doing some of the things that character does. (For simplicity’s sake, I’m going to use ‘he/him’ for this character. Hope that’s okay 🙂 )

Where does he live?
Where does he work?
What does he look like?
What does he want?
What does he do for fun?
Who does he love?
What does he hate?

You catch the drift. Start answering these questions and following that character throughout the day. Ask yourself what types of obstacles he could run into to bring in conflict or challenge. Try to figure out what kinds of strengths and weaknesses this character may have that could help or hinder him as those challenges arise.

So with that in mind, here are a few tips on creating a character that will help launch your work in progress and get the story off to a good start:

Avoid Mary Sue

I’ve talked about this before, but like all good things, it bears repeating. While you may not see it right away, readers can spot a Mary Sue faster than you can say Larry Stu. And I know there is a little bit of ourselves in every character we create, but if you’re writing as yourself, you’re going to end up with an unrealistic, possibly invisible, character that no one will believe or care about.

Make your character believable

And speaking of creating a character that no one will believe, that’s point # 2. Make your character believable. You character shouldn’t be too perfect, too flawed, or to stereotypical. That last point is especially pertinent when it comes to race, religion, or politics. Characters that appear to be a check-list of stereotypes are not believable, because no stereotype is 100%.

Make your character interesting

This can merge a bit in the previous point when it comes to a character that is too perfect or too flawed, but it deserves its own heading as well. A protagonist who can’t be beat by anything is not interesting. He’s 1980’s Hulk Hogan. Likewise, as character that can’t do anything right or is too flawed can just get boring or end up frustrating the reader. Think of any sitcom. They all have that secondary character that is a “screw up.” It gets old watching that character make mistake after mistake. Now imagine that character being the main protagonist of a novel. Boring.

Don’t start with mundane details

I say this all the time, but if your story begins with some dude brushing his teeth and then taking a shower before walking his dog, I’m not reading chapter two. Introduce your unique, original character, by showing us what makes him unique and original. Don’t show us things that everybody does. There is a reason I call these things “mundane details” and that is because they are mundane.

Make your character likable

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, your reader must like your character. That doesn’t mean your character has to do nice things (check out Tommy Monaghan from DC Comics Hitman series to see what I mean) but he has to be fun to read. And over the top good guys are just as unlikable as over the top bad guys. Create a character people can relate to. One that can make them laugh (or cry.) One that they will want to keep reading to see what’s going to happen next.

And that’s it. If you haven’t tried starting with a character, give it a try. I know I love creating characters to build a story around, but if that’s not your cup of coffee, check back later and we’ll look back a few other ways to get your story started.

Thanks for reading and if you have any character-building tips you’d like to share, feel free to drop ’em in the comments section.