From the mailbag, #2

Where do you start when you write a story? With characters, setting, conflict…?

It depends on the story. Sometimes, it starts with characters; sometimes, with setting; sometimes, with plot; sometimes with a situation or an idea; sometimes with a theme… It really doesn't matter where the story starts, as long as it has all the crucial bits in it when it's finished. I've started stories from an idea for a character, from a mental image that I wanted to explain, from a situation that I wanted to ...