Karen GoatKeeper's Blog - Posts Tagged "setting"
Which Comes First?
A good novel has so many parts contributing to the whole that singling any one out is ludicrous. The rough draft of a hopefully good novel is not so difficult. Any novel begins with characters, a plot and a setting. If these are not appealing to a potential writer or reader, the novel will not be.
Which comes first? So many wannabe writers ask that question. How would I answer it?
Put on the thinking cap. Dredge through the memory. Hmm....
Well, for Dora's Story, the goat came first. Then I listed all these possible places for Dora to live and types of owners to have.
For Broken Promises an idea came first. I picked the trite one of a city girl moving to the country. Then came a plot starting point. For Broken Promises it was the death of her father in Iraq triggered by the death of my nephew there. Hazel became a real character as I wrote about her dealing with this loss.
In Old Promises Hazel is in the country. This time it was the memory of a tragic Christmas when a man killed his wife, children, grandchildren and a couple of friends. Why? His wife was going to leave him. The family feud, antagonism to Hazel and final incident grew out of re-imagining this incident.
Capri Capers was just for fun to write a 1930's movie serial/melodrama with a goat as a character. It began as a list of possible cliff hangers to end the chapters and the melodrama characters grew from this.
The final answer to which comes first: character, plot or setting is clear. Any one can come first. Any one can be the trigger setting off scene ideas and story lines racing through the mind ending in a novel.
The problem with that answer for a wannabe writer is the lack of concreteness. There is no tried and true way to write a novel except to read books and magazines, listen to the news and friends, open your eyes and see what is happening around you for that nubbin of a character, a plot or a setting around which an idea for a novel will coalesce.
Which comes first? So many wannabe writers ask that question. How would I answer it?
Put on the thinking cap. Dredge through the memory. Hmm....
Well, for Dora's Story, the goat came first. Then I listed all these possible places for Dora to live and types of owners to have.
For Broken Promises an idea came first. I picked the trite one of a city girl moving to the country. Then came a plot starting point. For Broken Promises it was the death of her father in Iraq triggered by the death of my nephew there. Hazel became a real character as I wrote about her dealing with this loss.
In Old Promises Hazel is in the country. This time it was the memory of a tragic Christmas when a man killed his wife, children, grandchildren and a couple of friends. Why? His wife was going to leave him. The family feud, antagonism to Hazel and final incident grew out of re-imagining this incident.
Capri Capers was just for fun to write a 1930's movie serial/melodrama with a goat as a character. It began as a list of possible cliff hangers to end the chapters and the melodrama characters grew from this.
The final answer to which comes first: character, plot or setting is clear. Any one can come first. Any one can be the trigger setting off scene ideas and story lines racing through the mind ending in a novel.
The problem with that answer for a wannabe writer is the lack of concreteness. There is no tried and true way to write a novel except to read books and magazines, listen to the news and friends, open your eyes and see what is happening around you for that nubbin of a character, a plot or a setting around which an idea for a novel will coalesce.
