What do you with a set of characters but no story?

[pyopyon]

I've been developing this superhero universe for about two years now and I have a really great characters with cool hero names and villain names and powers etc. and I would love to eventually develop it into a VN but...

I have no idea for a storyline.

What do you do to generate ideas for VNs when you have sets of classes of characters that would be interesting to showcase?

[Ghost of Crux]

I had the same problem as you for a universe I've thoroughly developed-- it had a wide cast of characters with interesting design, personality and powers, EXCEPT. They are a race who do not really do much. They're just interested in preserving the pre-existing customs and rules and very few even deviate from their daily /activities/.

I loved them a lot, because they're pretty much those characters who showcase creativity-- yanno, you went out of your way googling obscure things that end up being part of their designs. But it's painful that I can't use them. The world is expansive, too, except. I can't use them.

I only got to use them a few days ago, when I threw in a revolution-centric character.

Basically, ask yourself: is the lack of storyline due to the world you built, or is it just a case of no inspiration? If it's the former, find out what's interfering with interesting stories and set up an event that decimates that. Ruin the characters' expectations of what their world should be, and see how they act.

If it's the latter, however, look at the characters. Are there any relationships, personality, or quirks you'd love to show? Can you come up with any events that screws as many of them as you possibly could? Does the world have a quirk in its design that can be of interest? Heck, sometimes I'd even plaster a quote onto a character and see how they act if that quote is a life motto for them-- how do they handle circumstances in which they'd have to deviate, how they'd act if said thing was a big fat mess of lies. In cases in which the characters are born to power, I could either delve into the "baby stories", aka parts where they learn how to use their powers, or have them be totally comfortable with their powers ANDDDD suddenly discovering that they've accidentally done some huge terrible thing without even realising it.

Basically, for me, I just be terrible to my characters.

(Or of course you can be NOT mean to them and just make some fluffy story where they just develop puppy halcyon days summer loves. Those are lovely, too. It's also better for their psyche. Maybe now they won't have anxiety.)

[pyopyon]

Oh, what a coincidence. I actually just was looking at your threads the other day (I haunt here a lot when I don't feel like working on my Ocean Pearls, haha.) I look forward to Many A Weary Feet!

Ah... so. I guess the thing is... there is no main character or really... motive. There's basically a world where people with powers are divided into strategic teams and trained in the art of saving the world. Like superhero boarding school run by the government. As such, most of the characters are kid supers-in-training. A few generations ago, certain science organizations attempted to create powers in people who didn't naturally have the genes, taking willing volunteers-- but as it became more widely known, the world was enraged at the idea of human experimentation and such organizations were dismantled.

In the present, people with natural powers are encouraged and trained while the descendants of people with artificial powers are scorned. (Artificial powered people are marked by a birthmark in a certain shape that all people whose great-great-etc. grandparents were willing experiments.)

The main cast are the members of Squad E and Squad K, who are just two groups of kids who are training under their respective mentors, from The Big Super Hero Team, the Council + the blogger who follows Squad K (haha) and her photographer boyfriend who she drags around.

There's a lot of fun characters, but pulling together a cohesive plot is the problem since it's hard to pick a center and VNs with perspective jumps... I've never seen any and they're hard to pull off, especially with a huge cast... (that'll no doubt be watered down when the time for art comes around.)

I have two main villains- "King Khaos", universe conquering alien from another world whose abilities are universe manipulation and his daughter "Kitten Pink", who destroys things because, well, "If Daddy wants, he can make it better." She's... a loose cannon to say the least.

I feel like I have all the components for a compelling story... without... the inspiration or plot of a compelling story-- and the lack of a center in regards to a main character is not at all helpful.

[Ghost of Crux]

Ahaha, thank you! I've frankly been writing more of it instead of drawing for it and I really shouldn't do that. But that's off topic.

Hmm, I get what you mean. But perhaps you shouldn't approach it as like, one huge VN in which all of the cast shows up and have their stories told. Why not make it a series where it's in the same setting, but different characters have their stories told? Multiple shorter VNs that expand on the world and such. It would also allow you to not have to settle with one huge villainous move that would be grand enough to "fulfill the expectations" of such a huge VN, and would probably get away with a more personal motivation. You can get away with looser threads, too, then, because it could be like... the characters in a VN seemingly has an inconsequential antagonist but it could somehow be tied to the larger story, instead of needing EVERYTHING to contribute directly to the main plot. Basically, you can get away with less-important mcguffins being used while having it be just as important, because the story is focused on the character, and not on how to take down the big bad.

[SundownKid]

IMO, it's good to have a fictional universe to build a story in, but the characters should be made for the story rather than the other way around. First get rid of all the characters, then think of a situation, then make new characters with the parts of the old characters that would work in that situation.

Otherwise you are at risk of creating Mary Sues and Marty Stues who get outsized attention, or just making the story boring. You should not be overly attached to your characters basically.

[pyopyon]

@Namio

To be fair, I can't draw so I am always writing more of my VNs then drawing for them. ;^) I think you're okay. Haha.

Ohhhh, I see what you mean! If I made little sort of... episodic VNs that focused on individual (groups of?) characters then... ah, that's a nice idea! I guess I'm also a little scared because I'm a plot writer by far and character driven stories... while I can write them, I guess I worry that there'll be a thirst to know about the Big Bad and what happens with him when I really... don't know, looolll. Oh, that's not bad at all! Because then I can also focus on different main characters and such.

That seems much more do-able, even though I'm not sure how I'll pull it off a totally character-based series of arcs without focusing as much on a major arc since I have no ideas for said major arc... Kinda like Mario and the Thousand Year Star, now that I think about it...

@SundownKid

Ah, the story characters are already created and developed and I don't think they're members of the Sue or Stu family, so I don't quite understand what you mean by "at risk of creating Mary Sues and Marty Stues who get outsized attention"-- they're already created characters so can you clarify what you mean?

[kitsubasa]

If you have a group of pre-created characters you're adamant about building a VN around, the best approach is probably going to be picking one or two, figuring out what their main goal/problem is, and making that goal/problem the plot of the story (maybe they're in trouble with their mentor and they want to earn back his respect? maybe they're rivals and an event is coming up they want to outdo each other in?). Also, as SundownKid has touched on, trying to force a lot of characters into a story because you have those characters lying around in sketchbooks and notes is a bad idea. Unless you re-engineer them to fit with the plot you pick, they're going to be 'orphans' within the game, so to speak -- characters who're showing up with no plot reason to justify it, who you're fumbling to integrate.

A good rule of thumb, whatever plot you decide on, is to introduce characters as the plot demands (rather than introducing characters THEN trying to find something to do with them); and once you've got your full cast+their plot functions, check if you can combine any. If you don't need a character in your chosen plot, get rid of them. Better to have a good story and spare characters for next time than a bad story which has been dragged out with a lot of extra characters.

[YonYonYon]

Yeah, choose your main character and ask them what does they want. After that, put obstacles that will prevent them to get what they want. The MC will overcome the obstacles and get what they want in the end. The end.

It doesn't have to be a grand epic thing. Even "Getting the coffee from that one special shop" might be an interesting story if you mix right characters and problems into it. Also, there's always editing and revising and getting inspirations as you write, so you don't really have to worry about the grand meaning of the story on your first draft.

And Ghost of Crux's idea is neat, if you can't choose any character as your main one, make many different stories from each's perspective.

[papillon]

If you have a set of characters but no story idea probably the best thing to do is set them aside until you have a story idea with no characters. Combining the two can then give you a story with some unexpected angles in it, if you're willing to let the story and the characters interact and change bits as needed.

If your characters are too fixed in your mind and you don't want anything to change them they'll probably make a mess of any story.

[Fuseblower]

Well, if you want a basic framework for a story then you can follow the framework of Vogler which is derived from Joseph Campell's work (writer of "The Hero with a Thousand Faces").

You can assign your characters the roles of hero, mentor, shadow, etc.

More importantly though : what genre is the story? Each genre has its own requirements. Without a genre, there is no story.

For example : Twenty Rules for a Detective Story. There are more of such "rules" for detective stories, of course.

TvTropes has a nice couple of pages about "So you want to write a .... story" right here.

[docal]

You have plenty of characters with personalities, powers and all the stuff?
Let's battle royale!
More seriously the characters will have to interact with each others, so see who have what in common with the others. A shared backstory can make a good begining point.
"My parents were killed by the maleficent Dr Stein when I was young." "What a coincidence ! Mines too ! Let's find this punk together !"

[philat]

Names, backstories, and powers aren't characters. That's lore. Characters exist within a story. And there's really only one fundamental element of a story -- change or conflict.

[Akai85]

You're never going to fit all these different characters into one comprehensive story imo. Treat your world/characters like a franchise and make one story with some of them. Then if you want you can make more stories. I think that's the best way to go when you've got a universe first. Stories usually happen on a small scale with a few main characters and events directly concerning them.

[gas]

Write a story about a guy that create heroes but lack a story.
That happen in a grim WWIII setting. And want to inspire people that lack heroes figures.
Talk of his family, friends, love interests...
And use those power characters as meta-narration elements.

Pay me a beer.

[truefaiterman]

If you REALLY have your characters well fleshed out...

How do they develop the way they are?
How would they react to certain things?
How would they act if they have a rival or enemy?

If you've really developed those characters, they should have a motivation, and you can have a base for a story by... simply making those characters chase such goals, and clashing in the process (thus, creating conflict and drama).