When it comes to telling stories, what comes first for you, plot or character? I have found over the years that for me, the two things go together. I never know who a character is or what they can do until I have written something that involves them. For example, I'm working on a Victorian novel that I hope to have a complete first draft by the end of this month, April. I first got the two main characters some time ago in a writing group exercise. The characters emerged as part of a short piece of fiction written within the group and I knew that these characters were keepers.
Character and Plot
For me, the art of telling stories begins with both plot and character, i.e., I have a situation and some people enter it, how they act and react withing that scene or story tells me whether the character or characters have mileage for something longer. Character emerges, at least when I start writing, when I can see how they act or react in whatever scenario I put them in. The characters just seemed to emerge as a possible couple and that scenario is published in my book of short stories on Amazon under my pen name Susan Clayson - from this I started writing other scenarios that started my historical novel.
The Empire Detective Agency
The two main characters in my historical novel Ellie and the Cracksman, are, the series title. The first novel starts with their meeting after the death of Ellie's father, and towards the end of the book, they set up a private enquiry agency called The Empire Detective Agency, somewhat like Pinkertons. The couple work their own cases but they also work on projects that the government see as sensitive, and which they don't want the public to know they are involved with. I hope to have this finished and up on Kindle and Createspace by the end of July.
