What is your method: Character creation first or Comic and Story first?

[shfra13]

Story ideas first, mostly. I know I'm a writer, but I used to draw when I was younger and have several OC's. But, until now, there are only two OC's (siblings) that I'm trying to incorporate to a plot (I haven't written the story yet, but they're in the character list). And that project is the only one where I'm trying to design my character first before plotting the story.

Some of my OC's were used solely for OC roleplay. They do have backstory, but that's it. I just don't feel comfortable turning my OC's into characters in my stories, especially reusing them in several stories. When I'm creating a story, I will create new characters. So, story comes first, character fits in the story second.

[Kiweevil]

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[joannekwan]

I've had both happen.
Sometimes I come up with interesting characters with their designs totally fleshed out, but then they sit around forever until I come up with a story for them.
Other times I come up with interesting premises, and then I have to build characters from the ground up for them.

[azzy-m]

Both happen, but usually it's characters first because many of my characters were the type of OCs you have but don't really use in anything, and then years later I built a world around them. Which is why so many of my stories are pretty character-centric, haha. Some of my recent story ideas are plot first though.

[Eiranyx]

Hi, new member here.
Before I used to do the same as your method but when I had my internship in a local comic publishing house ( I edit scripts and draw there ), I changed my method.
In there, they taught me that it's good to have an outline of the story, then character design/character outline and then write the story in script format (you know the ones with description on how the scenes should look in a panel). --- It is so that the artist/s can follow through and it will make it easier for both writer and artist to change scenes or track if the scenes is appropriate for the personality of the character / in case a new idea comes up before proceeding to drawing the comic itself then publishing it. -- So I decided to adapt it.

[jensrichard77]

For me, it is a symbiosis. I can’t have one without the other.
A character will grow with the story and the story will create more characters.
The new characters will change the way I see my first character and they will together change the story.

[rumpenstiltzkin]

For me, as I have always loved drawing and coming up with characters and their design, characters have always come first - and sometimes these characters come with a story while Im drawing them. And if I like them enough and I draw them alot eventually their story is coming to me and I start building the world around a bit more detailed.

Its fun to hear how other start their ideas and such, i dont believe there is any right or wrong way to write and come up with a story/comic, we just gotta do what feels right for us!
Ive read and seen so many "how to"s and I just think its sad that these guides sometimes make themself the only way instead of clearly telling this is just one way to do it.

[silverraven0]

Story first for me. My process is usually a very vague idea that I keep brewing on my head (or if I wrote it down) then I did a rough draft while everything is still vague and the plot or dialogues is mostly the thing idid last. Then the character finalization.

[Comicfan00]

Character Creation then Story/Comic

[Nyerelia]

They go hand in hand for me. If I come up with a story the important characters are already there because they're an integral part of it. Conversely if I come up with a new character (that's not to be in an already existing story) a few seconds later they already have their own story and world they fit in.

It seems like it's pretty common to have a bunch of OCs laying around and sometimes people even need help to create a story for them, but in my case I simply cannot conceive having a character that does not have a "place to belong". I once purchased a couple adoptables and I was fretting because they were simply a design, they didn't have any story. I had to come up with a story and world for them as quickly as possible because I couldn't stand it.

I feel similarly about having a story without a set of core characters defined, it is something beyond me

[TheGentleArtist]

Tbh, either or for me. If I did character creation first, I flesh out the character then build the world around them; if the story first, then figure out the beginning of it, then go on to character creation. After that, I just figure out the rest of the story later, mostly the ending second and the middle last.

[domisotto]

I favor books that are page turners, so for me story is the first step.

Until I have an outline that satisfies me in terms of interest, plot points and cohesion/continuity of plot, I don't start writing.

I do love character work though! For me it is a part of writing the story though, fleshing the characters out, making them real. But I have to know what happens first.

[lauragarcia511]

My methods can vary between projects.
For my current webcomic, I did the story first then added the character creations, and when I started brainstorming characters for the comic, I made side characters with different story arcs for different other projects.

[AmysGames]

A lot of my older characters were come up with before the story. Sanori, for example, I came up with before I decided what I wanted to do with her.

But nowadays I usually come up with the story first. For me, it's a lot easier to create a character to fit a role than to force a role onto a character.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

Based on the OP, this sounds like more of a distinction between fleshing out the character in preparation for the story, or letting the story inform the character's personality...hm...

As much as I like to think along the lines of the first option (most of my stories are born from the idea of a single character) the process usually ends up like the second. ^^; I do a preliminary sketch and concept of the MC, then I start writing the story and eventually learn what they're really like, then I go back and re-conceptualize them.

[mbindhammer]

Always these questions... Of course the story comes first. No character is interesting if she/he/it has no story to tell. In my opinion, the best stories are told by putting the character in an impossible position at the beginning of the story, and then it's up to your intellect how you get the character out of it.

[Rhonder]

I almost- if not- always wind up crafting the story first and then flesh the characters out within the narrative. I could see where crafting maybe just 1 or 2 important characters first and then writing a story around them could work... but my brain just doesn't work that way.

This can lead me into traps occasionally though. I had a story idea that I was working on briefly a few months ago before re-shelving for a while because I had the story premise all worked out, and even several minor characters... But then I was having a lot of trouble trying to lock down what i wanted the MC to be like. Which is, like, obviously really important before starting a comic LOL I wasn't sure of her personality or talents, which led to difficulty in even locking down her design. So, like, yeah, that story is just in limbo until I manage to work that out.

[cookieroach]

It's so interesting that everyone has their own process, I love reading about how other people create!

I create main characters first, and the story follow. I also like using the same characters for different stories, like having actors I can choose from. Side characters come later though, it would be difficult to do in advance. I can have a difficulty with deciding on a story sometimes, because I think plot is boring compared to the characters.

[Tanako]

Based on the OP, this sounds like more of a distinction between fleshing out the character in preparation for the story, or letting the story inform the character's personality...hm...

yes. that's exactly where I was going with the topic.

[Caro]

Looking at my body of work it almost feels completely evenly split 50/50 between the two!
For the most part though, since the story overall is more important I’m always trying to tailor the character to fit the story and only very rarely the other way around.

So usually even when I start with a character in mind its not usually fleshed out until I have a bit more story. It’s just like... a rough idea or something closer to seeming like a stock character and then the process of writing the story will add dimension to the character as I go along.

Maybe I start with both actually? Because a lot of the time my works start from the idea of “What if a [blank] type of character was in a [blank] sort of situation?” That seems like both to me!