Recent Reads: The Writers Voice Special!

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The Writers Voice Blog

The Writers Voice is a multi author blog where prominent authors from around the web come together and share their thoughts on all things literary or otherwise. Here is a peek at our team of authors!

Which came first for you

the characters, the idea for the setting,

or the plot?

“A side character almost always comes first, then the world and the main character.”
–Emma Michaels

“It’s been different for each book. For Becoming (the first book I wrote and then published), the idea for the characters came first. Amber is loosely based on a 17-year-old young woman I worked with when I served as a placement case manager for a nonprofit organization serving youth with mental illness and behavioral challenges. I wanted to feature a protagonist who dealt with multiple displacements and ultimately overcame that.”

–Raine Thomas

“The characters”
–Quinn Loftis

“This changes depending on the book. For my book Troy High, I knew the plot first—a modern day retelling of the Trojan War. I developed the characters as I wrote the book. For Surfacing and the rest of the Swans Landing series, I had the characters first—mermaid-like people who lived among humans on an isolated island. I figured out the plot and what was going on with these people as I wrote the story. For The Boyfriend Thief, I knew the plot first—a girl is paid to steal another girl’s boyfriend—and created the characters as I needed them while writing.”

–Shana Norris

“The thing that came first was the decision to write about something paranormal/supernatural in nature.”
–Tanya Contois

“… A tricky one; I'll go with the characters. But even though I think of them before I write about them, I don't put too much thought into them until I actually start writing about them. Then they come to life on their own. Actually, that's why I love to write; I feel like I'm being led by my characters, getting to know their personalities as I'm writing. Seeing them doing what their doing as they do it. Though of course there are times I'll say "Nah … that isn't working," and then I edit. :)”

–Victoria Simcox

“The Setting -The Characters - The plot.”
–Carlyle Labuschagne

“The culture actually came to me first for this book—the knife fighting. After that came Kit and Ryka, and then their worlds and how they collided.”

–Frankie Rose

“It changes, with The Soul Quest Trilogy I came up with the plot first, however, Wildflower inspired The Wildflower Series. The Soul Quest Trilogy evolved from a dream I had about a little boy (Hala) in a mirrored room of tragedy. Wildflower, the character, was conceived from an image of a girl with tattoos and the lyrics to Sheryl Crow’s song Wildflower.”
–Amy Maurer Jones

“Mostly, the plot.”

–Brenda Pandos

“The idea for the setting. Dehumanized started off as a simple thought, “A prison for werewolves.” From there I created the characters, their personalities and the such, and then the plot. I like to think of the setting first because it allows me to plan my characters accordingly, and once I have the characters set up I can work on the plot and what those characters do in the setting I’ve placed them in.”
–Michael Loring