I summarize that there are two kinds of writers: the character driven writer and the plot driven writer. And of course, if you want to write a strong story, you will need both elements. But usually the writer is driven more by one or the other of these aspects.                                                                                                                                                   I consider myself a character driven writer.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 As a writer of children’s fantasy/adventures books, one of my favorite things in creating a story is the forming and molding of my characters.                                                                                                                                                                                               Once I have characters who feel like long-time friends to me, the story writing just seems to come about because of the character’s personalities, and hence, the plot seems to come easily because of who those characters are.                                                                                                                                                                                          When writing children’s book, everything from character description to plotting has to be written tightly–in showing and not telling. The author has no room for long meandering explanations.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            So how does a writer get quality characterization into the story?                                                                                                                                                                                  When I start thinking about a new story idea, I first start by creating the characters who will appear in the story. I give each character pages and pages of attributes: likes, dislikes, values system, quirky ways, personalized sayings, emotions, flaws. Then they get fleshed out with physical appearance and the perfect name. All these things eventually will that character to life.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Once I know the character inside and out, that’s when I start to write the story–the plot.

So by working on your characters first, your plotting may just become easier.

For more information on this series and dragon books for children, visit the author’s website: http://www.dragonsbook.com