Where to Start; Plot, Characters, or Setting?

[Aliased]

Hey Jim Butcher Forum members, my name is James, I'm about to graduate from high school and I like reading books; lots of books.  My favorite series are probably The Dresden Files, The Mercedes Thompson Series, Discworld (Watch, and Death cycles,) and the Kitty Norville Series.  Not necasarilly in that order because truthfully my favorite author at any given time, assuming I enjoyed his/her books, can best be summarized as the one whose books I most recently read/reread; right now it's Jim because I'm freshening up on the series in anticipation of Ghost Story.

Recently, while pondering what I want to be when I grow up, I started wondering if I would enjoy writing fiction (or if I would even be any good at it, since creative writing is something I have never considering trying before.)  So now I have some questions you have probably all seen and answered a million times before here's the first one I can think of:

Where do you recommend I begin writing...do I begin by
A) fleshing out a bunch of characters and filling in a story around them
B) coming up with a plot for a story and then creating characters that fit, or
C) do I begin by imagining all the details of the world my story takes place and my characters live in (for instance, let's say I want to write a gritty first person narrative about a wizard/private investigator with a penchant for getting in over his head, did I first imagine what rules and laws govern the world and what creatures inhabit it, and then create the character or the story.)

Please don't tell me it's some terribly complicated combination of the three all at once because while that might work for some people, and especially experienced writers, I need somewhere to start.

As an aside, having never written creatively before I'm sure I don't know much about creating characters; does anyone have a file, a website, or a list of important questions I should answer or keep in mind when creating them?  I saw a link to some character sheets on another website for instance, you filled in the characters favorite color, food, height, stuff like that; but because you couldn't save the document, it had to be printed, it was inconvenient for my current computer set up (read; I own no printer.)

*Edit* Found information on character sheets easily on Google, I just hadn't been searching for it using the right words.

[Snowleopard]

Hi James and welcome to the forum.
As for starting writing - truthfully it varies from writer to writer.
It's gonna be whatever works best for you.

Now when I write, I get an idea and let it roll around in the back of my head for awhile and then
finally I'll start putting it down on paper, so to speak.
I don't tend to outline plot or flesh out the characters, their world and/or universe - that sorta happens on the fly.
To be truthful, most of my stories happen in a universe that I've already created so I know a lot about it.
I write/create the characters moving/reacting to their world/situation.
Mind you now, this is how I work - it does NOT mean that you have to work that way or even should.
I often get bogged down in the middle of my stories because I haven't outlined or fleshed out the whole plot. 
I know where I'm starting from and where I want to end up but I'm sometimes foggy on the road I need to take.
I hope that's been of some assistance.

[Haru]

Something that has helped me to get started is to start with really really (really) small steps. I assume you have at least a few scenes in your head, that would suit well into a story. Forget the story, write that scene, and only that scene. For example I had a scene in mind a few years back, where 2 people fall out of some sort of portal in slow motion, and the phrase "And then reality exploded". I didn't know what had happened, where they came from or anything, I just wrote about that scene, and when I was finished, I had written it so that I wanted to know what the heck happened and where they where.
Sort of like when you are out of shape and you want to start jogging, people will tell you to start slow, walk the first few times to get your body adjusted to the new physical stress. This is kind of the same, start flexing your creative writing muscles, the more you write, the more you will be able to write.

As for character sheets, I think the way characters are created in the Dresden Files RPG is perfect for stories, so you might want to check that out.

There was also Jim's livejournal (though it is more in a zombie state, lately), where he describes some excellent tips. I'll see if I can find the link.

[Aliased]

Three things I have noted in regards to Jim's livejournal;

It hasn't been updated in years.

For some reason some of the posts seem to be made by people who don't like Jim's writing; I'm not familiar with the workings of Livejournal, maybe I'm reading it wrong?  It almost seems like the comments are given just as much visual weight as the owners posts, making it impossible to distinguish between the two at a glance.

It has some valuable information in there somewhere, one of these days I'm going to read through the whole mess to see if I can find it.

[OZ]

As has already been written there is not a single right or wrong answer to this. It's important to have some idea what story you want to tell. If you were telling a friend about the story would you start out by telling him or her about the characters and then tell what happened to them or would you start out by telling them the story and fill them in about the characters when necessary? There are many useful threads in this Author Craft section of the Forum. I find this one to be particularly useful:  http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,15083.0.html.

[Wordmaker]

You'll find your own technique as you go on, but for now, as already suggested, start small and simple.

Think up your hero. What is it you'd like your hero to do a lot of? Is he really good at fighting? Then decide why he's going to fight. Say, maybe he's a rookie knight eager to prove himself to his king. Okay, so now he needs an enemy, maybe a duke who wants to assassinate the king and take over the kingdom? This is good because it both lets the knight show off his strengths (when he fights the duke in a final showdown), but also plays to his weaknesses, because as a young knight he might not be any good at politics or figuring out the best way to uncover a conspiracy.

And right there you've got yourself a main character, a villain, and a plot.

From there you can develop certain elements of character and story as you need them, like why the duke wants to rule the kingdom, and how the knight finds out what's happening.

[Alablast]

I would suggest... starting with what you like.  Do you like making up ideas of characters?  Do you like to think up plots, or certain events that would happen in a story?  Do you like coming up with all the details for a world?  You can always go back and work on the other two- but if one's more fun for you, or if you naturally come up with one, I would start with that and go from there.  You'll probably enjoy it more that way, and your story will probably mesh better- you'll be able to fill the other two (the details, or the characters, or the plot) in around a point you're sure of, rather than trying to start from an 'iffy' position.

When I write things I like starting with the plot- coming up with a neat idea that might happen in a story, and then going from there.  From there I know where everything's going to eventually go, so I can think about what type of person would be involved in that situation, or how they get there, what made them do it that way, those kinds of things.  You might not like that at all though; you might enjoy thinking up a type of character, and then thinking up all the situations and problems they would get into- so it would probably be better to try starting with making characters for you, etc.

[meg_evonne]

As many answers as postings, but all say the same thing. Simply write. Enjoy writing. Enjoy creating your world. Enjoy finding your own way and have fun. Plan on taking whatever classes you can. Go to hear authors speak at book signings. Then learn, learn, learn by studying and experimenting. Start 'critically' reading the books you like, but more importantly the ones you don't like. A great writer, Connie Willis, said, "Figure out where a movie went bad. You'll learn a great deal fixing them in your head."  She also says, "Keep your butterfly net open and in the sky to scoop up ideas!"

As to characters, give them flaws, as well as strengths!  (Set up an excel sheet to record physical/character traits.)
As to worlds, eventually (not necessarily now) write up the rules for your world. I use a spiral secretary flip pad.
As to plots, begin with your major plot, and then weave in the subplots (at least three). (Set up time line excel sheet.)
As to villains, give them background and motivation. Give them good as well as bad traits.

Your reading list is an exact mirror of my own, but you might try adding the Sazi series by C.T. Adams and the Sentinel Series or Edge Series by Jim's wife, Shannon Butcher. Finally, for a mature reader there are the Brotherhood books by Ward. Also there are people who post in here that have some great reads too!

May your fingers fly on the key pad, Aliased. Do not seek perfection, seek completion. Perfection can come later.

[OZ]

Do not seek perfection, seek completion. Perfection can come later.

You have found my fatal flaw.

[DominicJ]

Just START
Once you're going, you can always change stuff.

[meg_evonne]

You have found my fatal flaw.

It is a flaw shared by many writers. I've taken classes with writing and publishing professionals. My greatest sympathies (and greatest feeling of triumph for others) are those who are editors and copy editors. Not all obviously, but many can not leave a page that is not perfect. They tell me they are always sucked into revision and never get those next pages plopped out. They may eventually get a completed book, but it will take a long and discouraging journey. IMHO  How wonderful when they turn a corner into producing pages!

[1eyedjack]

I always felt that whatever I started with should be important.  If what tipped me towards writing was an idea for a character then by god the character came first.  If I had a plot idea, I made a very rough outline with different possibilities.  On the other hand, with plot I'd simply file it away, convinced that in order to create a proper character to fill in the blanks I'd need time to think about it.  On one occasion, I'd had an explanation of a way magic could work in a fantasy setting tucked away in a file, came up with a few characters that I realized would work fantastically with that sort of magic and a story erupted forth from the amalgamation. 

Here's the thing, take everything said here with a grain of salt.  Take suggestions but do what works out for you.  Bottom line, remember the Nike slogan:  Just do it.  Write.

[Snowleopard]

There's a wonderful book out there completely on quotes on writing - it's called "Writers on Writing" by Jon Winokur.
You should see what they have to say about each other - oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!
And one of the best lines in there is - "Get black on white!" when it comes to writing.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

And one of the best lines in there is - "Get black on white!" when it comes to writing.

I hope this does not mean those of us who work in yellow on blue are doomed.

[Snowleopard]

No.  For you it would be - "Get yellow on blue!"