Writing help

How story ideas are born

Authors generally start with one of three elements (character, setting, or conflict) and use the one chosen to come up with the other two. There's no right or wrong order to this process.
An idea for a conflict (for example, high school bullying), can lead both to character ideas (Who's the bully? What motivates him? Who are the victims? How will they respond?) and also to setting ideas (What kind of school do these characters attend? Where is this school located? Is it a rough public school, a snooty private one?).
An idea for a setting (for example, a Mississippi cotton plantation just before the Civil War) can lead to conflict ideas (slaves forcibly separated from their children), and character ideas (a pregnant slave willing to risk her life to keep her unborn child).
Or an idea for a character (for example, a woman who is obsessed with neatness) can lead to conflict ideas (In what situation would the character's obsession with neatness become a problem? In what situation would she face a mess she couldn't control?), and setting ideas (the woman's ultra-organized apartment with its elaborate systems of cabinets, compartments, and labeled containers).
Now, let's start coming up with some character ideas that you'll use over the next two days of the course to get ideas for conflict and setting.