I often start a story without prep work of ether kind -- with a single first line of dialogue or a single image, and then as I write figure out who's saying or seeing it and why.
With fanfic, I'm very method -- I get into the character's mindsets a lot. But then, in fanfic the characters of necessity exist before the plot. The question is, can I get into their heads enough to imagine what else they might do.
With original fic, it varies more. While I definitely consider myself a character *driven* writer, it's not always that a character comes to me and then I need a story for them to go in -- and, indeed, when I get those they often don't end up going much of anywhere. I often start with a situation/dilemma that intrigued me, and then figure out who the people are -- who they must be to be in that situation, or to get out of it.
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With fanfic, I'm very method -- I get into the character's mindsets a lot. But then, in fanfic the characters of necessity exist before the plot. The question is, can I get into their heads enough to imagine what else they might do.
With original fic, it varies more. While I definitely consider myself a character *driven* writer, it's not always that a character comes to me and then I need a story for them to go in -- and, indeed, when I get those they often don't end up going much of anywhere. I often start with a situation/dilemma that intrigued me, and then figure out who the people are -- who they must be to be in that situation, or to get out of it.