Out of curiosity, how do you go about creating a story?
Do you start with characters, dynamics, personalities? Do you start with the plot itself? With the world and its logic? Do you hop from here to there and add little pieces to all corners at once? Or is it a "Oh I've got a story" moment where it all pours out at once without thinking?
Extra question: How do you decide which hints and clues for plot, world building, and secrets to release when?
Very curious :D (If this has been answered before, sorry!)
Hello!! non-anon asks feel so rare, it's a pleasant surprise to get one every time. And no worries, if it's been asked before I don't mind (I also can't remember if it has been. Maybe it has, but who knows. the depths of my ask tag probably knows, but that's not the point lol)
It's kind of a mix of things! it also depends on what I'm working on, exactly. Back when doing short stories and board pitches, since the characters were often already "provided", it was a task of thinking of what interesting situations would be best fit to compliment, or contrast, that character and their intended journey.
with something like Soli (and past, much older original characters and stories that are long now retired), it's born from building the characters out first, and as they're discovered, playing the game of what their story needs to say and how to say it.
Soli's story is built around the central protagonists this way in which all of them have a connecting theme and how they play together through interpersonal developments. With Maia largely at the helm right now, it requires navigating a character who is an anxious mess, socially awkward (if not inept--not out of malice, but out of deeper machinations that lead her down an uneasy road).
Knowing that basic setup with her lets me know how she approaches the path before her, how she behaves when alone, how she behaves when masking, and how she behaves when trying to do what she thinks others want of her.... and, ultimately, it lets me know how this creates obstacles that will lead to her character growth. What those obstacles are coexist in line with the world she lives in, the characters she compliments and contrasts, her own weaknesses and wants. a tl;dr boils down to everything a character Is and Isn't informs their story and their world. This same thing applies to Elias, who sits as an equally important protagonist alongside Maia, but is a lot trickier to delve into due to... well, reasons. lol reasons that will unfold as chapter 3 comes to an end, but yes.
Some characters will defy you, though, and act all of their own accord. Soli has one character in particular who absolutely refused their role and, as such, the story did evolve and change around them. Sometimes things just click into place like that. The mantra of storytelling is often "And, because of that" instead of "And then", which means that every action and every reaction leads into another, building and coiling back. That's how characters that defy you and build their own path, but it's still entertaining when they do.
As for how I pepper in hints and clues... I'm a huge fan of subtle hints (some that are so subtle you can blink and miss them) and peppering in mystery, dangling a much more obvious plot thread or a distracting moment with characters who are too engrossed in their own moments to notice something stewing in the background. With developing moments like that, it feels like it's something more of a game. Sly little hints that might seem uneasy or out of place can be a lot of fun to play with. Peppering those in carefully can lead to a really fun payoff later when something that might have even felt like a plot hole comes blaring back into the forefront. So, I guess the easier answer to that is that you kind of feel like a giddy little child that has a secret but knows better than to say it outright. You beat around the bush a little, drop little hints to amuse yourself, but it's ultimately in the service of setting up that moment when you can blurt it all out--building to the payoff is fun both for you, as a storyteller, but as well for anyone who's paying attention enough to pick up on the background clues.
For little "ma" moments, like the current scene in Soli, it can also be a way to have those quiet downtime moments while also needling in something to hit hard later.
