It has been a whirlwind of writing and preparing for my book release lately. Psst - RESURRECTING THE KEEPER: THE LAST HEIR OF EXCALIBUR comes out May 28. ;)
And during this whirlwind, I considered how this all began - how all my stories began. After ruminating on that, I went to my Ask Lennon submissions inbox and this two-part question stood out to me.
What if you keep changing your mind on who the main character will be and what they're like? How can you write a story if you don't have the main character figured out?
The answer to this is both simple and complex.
Here's the simple answer:
There are three key elements to developing a story: Character, Setting, Plot. And why is character always first? Because you can't write a story without one.
Now, for the complex answer:
When I start a new novel, I start with an idea. It's just a small seed. It could be something like "girl gets sent to an asylum because she thought she visited Wonderland." Notice something about that seed? It's all focused on my main character. The story revolves around something happening to someone. All stories do. You simply can't have a story without your main character figured out in some way, to build a plot and setting/world around.
That being said, this is one of the best things about the Shitty First Draft (I'll write a blog post about this soon to explain more). The Shitty First Draft doesn't require anything being figured out. You simply just have to write it. So, you may start with your character having a certain job or character trait or habit or quirk in the beginning and then suddenly by the middle or end, that's not the case anymore and the disappearance of that thing had nothing do with character development. You just changed your mind. Or forgot.
Great news! It's fine. You know why? Because it's the Shitty First Draft. You can go back and edit in the next draft. You can decide you hate that job or habit and completely change it. Or, you can decide you love it and develop it more for the character or the storyline. Or, if you forgot, you can add it back in to later scenes. The Shitty First Draft is just for you. It's you telling yourself the story. It's you just getting to know your main character. It's a mess and it's okay.
For more writing advice, keep checking my blog for more Ask Lennon posts. To submit your own question(s), send me a message through my website's contact box. I look forward to answering your questions!
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