Over the past two weeks, I've been teaching my class about plot, setting, and character (what I call the "three pillars of storytelling"). In preparing these lessons, I've pondered on how I build a story from the bottom up using these pillars--and how it differs from my editing. Here are some thoughts.
Character
A story cannot exist in my mind until I find the right character. If I try to come up with a setting or a plot first, I simply can't hold the idea in my head because it doesn't feel intriguing to me. Plot is nigh impossible for me to develop without a character. Setting is a little easier on the larger scale, but the intimate details of a specific city/home/etc. become impossible without knowing what they need in order for me to explore a character. In my initial ideating and drafting, character is king.
This can be frustrating when I have ideas for a plot and setting, but no character. Such was the case for the next planned novel in the Templars of Metirno collection. I knew I wanted it to be set in Taridam, and that I wanted the main character to be a Luminary who is dealing with some sort of intrigue. I worked through several ideas of characters, but none of them fit (which is to say, I was not intrigued by them. There was no spark that kept me up late at night thinking about the character). Then, just a month ago, I finally found the character. I'm not even sure how I came across him--a late-40s historian who works for the Luminarium but has never successfully passed the test to become a Luminary and learn their magic. Not my typical character or subject, but it just felt right. And it kept me up at night imagining his story. Plot and setting soon fell into place, as it usually does after I find the character.
Plot
The character and plot are always in conversation for me. In The Engineer's Craft, I had the character of Bartus who really wants to join the Engineer's Guild. I also really wanted to do a travel narrative, because I dislike travel narratives in most fantasy. Yes, you read that right. I've never particularly enjoyed stories that, like the first Lord of the Rings, focus on travel more than anything else. But something weird about me as an author is that I enjoy taking things I don't like and trying to write a version for myself that I do like. It's a challenge that keeps writing interesting--can I write a travel narrative I enjoy?
After that, the plot materializes as a set of guideposts that are a mix of things the character needs and things that a travel-narrative needs. Intrigue on board? Check. A crash that forces Bartus to reconsider his life's priorities after he almost dies? Check. A mysterious end goal that isn't what it seems? Check. Meeting other people on the ship who help Bartus figure out what he truly needs? Check. In the first draft, it seems, these things come separately. But as I draft, I start to see how plot elements and character growth weave together. But more on that later.
Setting
While I love good worldbuilding, I'm not one to get too bogged down with "worldbuilder's disease" where I spend months and months planning out the world. Once I have both plot and character, I sketch a general outline of what kind of settings those will require and then jump right in, discovering the world as I go along. This is what editing is good for--making everything cohesive on a second pass through, so it seems like you did things intentionally rather than creating everything on the fly.
Editing
A big chunk of my editing involves weaving character and plot more closely together. Writing character for me is somewhat like looking through progressively more powerful microscope lenses. At first I get some details (Bartus starts out not wanting to "settle down" but ends with wanting to); then I rotate into a sharper lens and get more details (Bartus needs to see what blind ambition can lead a person to do); and then into another lens (Bartus needs to learn that worth does not come from what others think of you, but rather how you love and care for those around you). Maybe there are a few more lenses yet in my editing process. Each of these developments came from plot mixing with character--I realized after my first draft that Bartus was getting pulled in every direction to do something uncomfortable because of his ambition. Both Captain Padere and Anwen were able to convince him to work with them because they promised they would help him get closer to the guildmasters. On the issue of worth, it took me a long time to figure out why Bartus was so dead-set on joining the guild. I knew that was a part of his character, but in the first draft I made it because he wanted to "make a difference in the larger world," do something grand. That didn't fit with his character. After a year and a half of thinking about it (then several rewrites of the first few chapters), I discovered that Bartus has to get into the guild to show that he's worth something. He wants the people back at home to know that it isn't useless to study mathematics. This idea of "worth" uncovered a lot of things for me, but most especially a way for the ending to have more resolution. If Bartus' goal is to make something that will change the world, the reader will be disappointed by the ending when he decides to go home and start a family. But if his goal is to find worth and the arc is to slowly realize where true self-worth lies and realize that he is already worthy of those he loves, then the ending suddenly becomes a relief rather than a disappointment. At least, I hope my writing conveys that.