Character and World: Elements of a Story

Hi readers! This post covers the creation of a story, and two essential elements of it: character and world.

Writing a story can be extremely intimidating, since you’re starting from scratch and bringing a whole universe to life. Before beginning, it’s sometimes helpful to examine powerful or entertaining stories, and look at what they had that made them memorable to you. Most likely, there was a character that had to deal with some kind of problem or overcome something that you connected with or felt was almost real; additionally, there was probably a vivid world in which the story took place. These two components, character and world, are parts of the foundation of a good story.

Characters within stories, specifically works of fiction, are distinctive people that readers or viewers can easily relate to. Their whole backstory or life and personality doesn’t necessarily have to be spelled out, but we connect to them through their choice of words, actions, and flaws. The best characters are usually humanistic in qualities in the sense that they aren’t perfect, and they have a quality or have been put in a situation that readers can relate to. 

To write a character, the writer must know the character as well as a real person, which emulates the sense that they are real to readers. Tips to make a realistic character include:

• planning out what the character would do in various situations
• focusing on their motivations, flaws, and personality traits besides their physical appearance
• understanding how the character fits into the “world” of the story

When creating a story, I usually find it’s easier to start with the character before building the world, as I tailor it to the character; by starting with the character, certain roles or traits of the character can influence the world- for example, if my character was a wizard that’s fighting a dragon, the story would be very different in present-day America than a  wizard fighting a dragon in a medieval, alternate fantasy world. However, some people feel that the building the world first is more helpful, since their characters could be influenced by the world they build. If someone were to create a dystopian, zombie-apocalyptic world, they could create characters who are dealing with the situations in the world.

To create a world, writers can ask themselves “what if” questions to set up how characters would have to interact within it, or how the world may challenge the characters or affect the storyline. Worlds, like characters, must be well thought-out as well, and to create a realistic world writers should consider:

• challenges the world presents to the characters
• how the reader will understand the world, and how to present the world’s traits to the readers
• how the world will affect the plot line

The Write Life also has many other helpful tips and ideas when creating the world of a story!

Whichever one you decide to start with, the world and character should work together to enhance a story, rather than make it more confusing. Generally speaking, character and world should be complementary to the style you’re writing in, and how you want the story to flow. However, sometimes juxtaposing the character and world can make a story interesting as well.

Hopefully this post has been helpful- keep posted for more updates, and keep feeling life’s good vibes!

SBR