/lit/ - Literature

dumb question that doesn't have an answer

>>13228581
Well you're a dumb question with no answer.

S T O R Y
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Think about the themes you want to tackle, then build everything else around them.

the worldbuilding is almost always more important. if done properly, the world will naturally create characters for you, and if you handle that step correctly as well, the plot will flow naturally from your characters. focusing on plot is putting the cart before the horse

>>13228744
this

themes should shape the world, and the world should shape the story and the characters

>>13228745
Wrong.

the prose style

the most important thing to develop first is a work ethic

>>13228572
A story doesn't work without the right characters, so I guess characters it is. As long the world doesn't draw negative attention towards it, it's basically irrelevant.

Characters

>>13228572
I would say the World or the Characters. Your story should come from your characters' desires, fears, actions, and reactions. They create the narrative (unless you want to impose deux ex machina within your narrative). The classic conceit of literature since the Greek-meme has been the fight of CHARACTERS against the world they exist in. Oedipus stabs his eyes out not because he must for the tragedy to end; he does it because his guilt and shame has overwhelmed him and his very self can no longer gaze upon the world his actions have created. Character is the reason why so many great works have narratives that can be written on a napkin and yet still engage us.

However, characters are still a product of their world, so there may be merit to creating a world and then understanding how that world creates characters. But, there is an argument to be made that the necessary qualities of your characters provide material to create your world. What is the world that would produce Hamlet, given our knowledge of his nature? I believe this question is better solved by your own personal philosophy. Do you believe men create their worlds or does the world create men? This decision will have consequences but will likely help build a narrative that has more consistency to you as a writer.

>>13228572
Characters, interesting characters are fun and compelling to read about even when nothing of interest is happening, whereas the contrary is not true.

>>13229937
This is the truth

Characters > Story.

>>13228572
False dilemma. Each is mutually-constituted by the others

>>13228572

Doesn’t matter. Borges’ story for example rarely have characters. But then you can have stories with almost irrelevant plots (like Woolfe imo).

>>13231966
piggbacking off of this, if you want an example of a book with no setting to speak of, there's Only Revolutions

>>13228745
good advice for fantasy or sci fi, but if you're writing anything else this won't be useful. Everything should develop together: the characters, the scenery, the plot.

>>13228572
None of the above :DDDD

>>13228572

The story is the most important. All characters and motivations should be to propel the reader toward the progression and end of the story. The story means nothing if you don't know what themes you want to expand upon to your audience. Think about what you want your reader to take away from the story. It should be something that sticks with them and moves them even after times passes and they begin to forget the details of the world, characters and story.

Writing a story just to play with the characters is masturbatory fan-fic non-sense, and quickly tends to be isolate itself into delusions that cannot bring anything meaningful to the readers' life and perception.

>>13233932
>good advice for fantasy or sci fi,
No it's not. It's terrible advice no matter what you're writing.

>unironic bottom text meme

>>13228572
I will give you the best answer I can give to a question which cannot have any correct answer. I think dialogue is most important. Dialogue is the interaction between characters; and i think that attracts readers the most. Also, the sooner the dialogue, the sooner the story seems to start moving. Conversation is the divinity of man, and all art begins with interactions.

>>13231952
Holy shit took like 20 posts to find the correct answer.

>>13228572
Develop them all in tandem so that no element feels tacked on or out of place.
The characters are linked to the story, which is linked to the world, which is linked to the characters.

>>13233932
>>13234155
it's great advice no matter what you're writing