Story progression opinions.

[old.Tohtori]

So writing a series type of thing and it's in the raw materials atm, setting and all that.

What my question, to some literaly inclined peeps here, is should i write characters as they come along or should i first compose a list of all the characters as character sheet type of files? Even with info that isn't given and/or is used later on.

Not sure which approach would work better.

If i type down the individual characters, it might clash with the whole story, but if i bring them in individually(as story progresses), they might not fit in and feel like they're stamped on.

Or is it just "toss a coin and see", with both having pros and cons.

 

[Thorwyn]

Depends on your style of storytelling. Many writers start with one character and fit it out as fasr as possible, then add another character, then another, THEN create the conflict between them.
Other writers start with a rough idea and flesh it out witrh the required characters as they develop the story. (For example: Eco started his "Name of the Rose" novel with the rough outline "I wanted to poison a monk" ).
Personally, I tried both approaches and found them equally ok. Developing the characters is a good start if you´re not entirely sure where the story is going to drift.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Ah yeh in a regular story i usually go with a linear storytelling with little outlines(to allow flexibility etc), but this is a tv series style thing.

 

[Thorwyn]

I would start by developing as many characters as possible then. You can always tweak the characters if you see that parts of them don´t fit (and in a certain range of course. Turning the big antagonist into a mentor figure could be tricky. )

 

[old.Tohtori]

Yeah was leaning towards that too. Also if i add that to a map of the story area, i can easily progress through it in first "season".

 

[fettoken]

Introduce a not so developed character as you go along and let him jump in from time to time, and each time there is a tiny bit of info on him. And let him have a extreme personality, but cool on the surface all the time. Good way to create some mystery around a character and leave people wanting to know more.