Writers, do your characters develop your plot, or does your plot develop your character?

In the book I'm writing at the moment, my characters develop my plot. Without my characters and their flaws, insecurities and fears, there would be very little conflict and therefore no plot. Most of the action in my plot is determined by the actions and reactions of the characters. There are no major external obstacles, just a backdrop of social deprivation and a lot of psychological disturbance. =)

I provide an external conflict and/or something to instigate conflict. The character does the rest. Sometimes I write an outline. It usually changes, depending on the characters.

I recently started a short story with no conflict other than a tense relationship between a mother and son. The first half consists of dialogue between them and other characters in a party. By the time I got to the second half, I had a good enough grasp of their characters to understand where the plot was going. Also, I added details to the first half that reflected their history, something I hadn't know when I began writing.

I think it goes both ways.

Characters developing plot ➡ Whatever your character does and how he/she reacts makes the plot happen. Say if the character goes for a walk, and finds a kitten stuck in a tree. That wouldn't have happened if your character didn't see it.

Plot developing characters ➡ Whenever some action or part of your storyline occurs, it will change the character to who they are and mean't to be. In a Sci-Fi, when a asteroid kills most of the Earth's population, there's a shy girl who is really nerdy and non-atheletic. She has to do things she hasn't done to survive, being more brave and generating more skills in the outdoors.

I hope I answered your question.

That's a pretty cool question!

For me, my stories are always character driven, and put into some sort of vague happening. Like my most recent novel was began with a character, and all I knew was that she had found her dead father one day, and that she believed he was killed by a serial killer--a serial killer that, it happened, he had been obsessed with and had made a career of that obsession by writing books on the killer.

That's just one example, but I have characters, which are the heart, and a vague idea of what's going to happen--I don't know the outcome, the details; it's like watching a movie, and I get really excited sometimes, or really scared or surprised. I love it! Haha, so with that in mind, to answer your question, really it goes both ways for me.

Mostly, my characters develop the plot with their thoughts and their actions, and so on. But sometimes the plot, the things that happen as a result of all that, helps develop the characters.

Cheers!

Characters develop the plot with their choices and actions, and the plot then develops the characters because of what's happening.

Usually my characters develop the plot. I really wish I knew what was going to happen to my story I'm trying to work on. Since deleting my previous story I've taken a bit of a downfall and haven't been able to come up with anything good.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Akqid...

It's a tough one to answer. I would say there is almost always both in a story, whether it's noticeable or not.