Episode #63: What comes first, the plot or the characters? With Christina Diaz Gonzalez.

Hello! Welcome to another episode of the Kids Ask Authors podcast! The question for Christina Diaz Gonzalez and Grace Lin is, “What comes first, the plot or the characters?” Great question!

TRANSCRIPTS:

Grace Lin: Hello. I'm Grace Lin, children's book author illustrator of many books, including the middle grade novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and the picture book A Big Mooncake for Little Star. Today, I am here with Christina Diaz Gonzalez, the author of the action adventure middle grade novels, Moving Target and Return Fire as well as the historical fiction middle grade novels The Red Umbrella and A Thunderous Whisper. Hi, Christina.

Christina Diaz Gonzalez: Hi, Grace.

Grace Lin: How are you today?

Christina Diaz Gonzalez: Doing great. Staying safe. Staying home right now.

Grace Lin: Well, good because that means you must be ready for today's question. Are you ready?

Christina Diaz Gonzalez: Ready. Go ahead and hit me up with something.

Grace Lin: Okay. Today's question is from a person named Tracy, and Tracy asks.

Tracy: What comes first, the plot or the character?

Grace Lin: What comes first, the plot or the characters?

Christina Diaz Gonzalez: Ooh, that's a good question. I think for every writer, it's usually something different. But for me, I want to say it's a quick one-two punch in the sense that I usually come up with a pretty good fragment of the plot, and for some reason, it's something towards the end. So I envision the storyline as how it's going to end, but the one that tells me about the storyline is usually the main character. So as soon as I get this idea of, "Oh, that's a great plot idea. This would make a great story," all of a sudden, if it really is something that I'm going to write about, in my head, I can almost see the main character telling me, "Isn't it a great line? Isn't this a great storyline? Don't you want to write a book about this?"

Christina Diaz Gonzalez: Then, all of a sudden, the character takes over and says, "This is what happened that you just thought of, but this is what happened before." So I go back to the beginning, and I'm able to start developing the story with that character in mind. So I want to say plot usually comes first, but it's so quickly followed by the character that sometimes I can't even tell which one really came first.

Grace Lin: I think that's so interesting. I think I'm so much you, but I really liked what you said was that how you kind of know the end first. I think that's how it works for me too. When I start writing, I always kind of know the end. I know a bit about the beginning, and I know maybe one or two scenes in the middle, but not always that much more.

Christina Diaz Gonzalez: That's exactly what happens to me. I usually have a good grasp of my end, where the story is going to at least lead to. Then, I have work backwards, figure out where I want to start, and then everything in between is a journey for me almost as a reader/writer because I'm discovering what will happen to get me to that end.

Grace Lin: Yeah, and I feel like that's when the character becomes so important. So I agree, like it's... In the beginning, for me, it's the plot because I know that beginning. I know that ending so well, and then I know maybe one or two things that I want in the middle, but it's the character that flushes out everything else in between like the decisions that he or she would make. Sometimes those plot points that I think up in the beginning, they don't stay because the character just isn't going to go there.

Christina Diaz Gonzalez: Oh, absolutely. Sometimes I discover that even new characters that I expected to just play a very minor role, all of a sudden, take on new life within those chapters and become central to the story. It was something I completely did not plan for as a writer, but as a reader, I wanted to know more, and so that's the journey I go. I follow those characters and see where they take me, even though I suspect where I know that the ending is going to lie. Sometimes even that changes.

Grace Lin: Yeah, and I think it's so interesting that sometimes those secondary characters become so much more important too.

Christina Diaz Gonzalez: Absolutely, and I wonder if you are like I am. I'm a person who does not like surprises very much. So I always wonder if that's why I start my books with an ending in mind. I'm also one of those people that I don't mind people giving me the spoiler for a movie. I'll still go see it anyway. I'm okay with knowing the ending ahead of time.

Grace Lin: Yeah, me too. I'm almost afraid to admit this, but I like reading the ends of books first.

Christina Diaz Gonzalez: Me too. That is funny. You're, I think, one of the first people that doesn't frown upon it. I didn't even mention. I said movies because I didn't want to say something so taboo, but I totally am one of those people who will flip to the back of the book, and read a little bit, and be like, "Okay. I like that. I'll continue on."

Grace Lin: Yeah. Otherwise, I can't enjoy the book because I'd be too worried like I just need to know like...

Christina Diaz Gonzalez: "Is everything going to be okay, or if it's not, let me just start preparing myself for it."

Grace Lin: Exactly. Well, so it's nice to know that we're kindred spirits that way.

Christina Diaz Gonzalez: Exactly, exactly. There's more than just one of us.

Grace Lin: Yes. Well, thank you so much, Christina, for answering that question, and thank you, Tracy, for asking it. Bye.

Christina Diaz Gonzalez: Bye. Thank you so much, Tracy.

Today’s BOOK REVIEW by Jordan. Jordan is reviewing “Something to Say by Lisa Moore Reme.

The cover of Lisa Moore Ramée’s ​Something To Say​ caught my attention right away. It is illustrated by Bre Indigo. The main character, Janae, just looked interesting—and she is! I’d never read about a character who has social anxiety before. Janae likes to be invisible at school but when a boy decides he is going to be her friend, she has to get used to not being invisible.

Janae’s school is named after a white man who was racist. The school is considering changing the name to Sylivia Mandez School, Sylvia Mandez integrated an all white school. The book is about Janae dealing with her social anxiety and the debate over the school name.

I think this is a good book for children with anxiety and for children who are interested in how school decisions are made. I really enjoyed ​Something To Say.

Thank you Jordan!

More about today’s authors:

Christina Diaz Gonzalez is the award-winning author of several books including THE RED UMBRELLA, A THUNDEROUS WHISPER, the MOVING TARGET series, and STORMSPEAKER (part of the Spirit Animals: Fall of the Beasts series). Her books have received numerous honors including the American Library Association’s Best Fiction for Young Adults, the Florida Book Award, the Nebraska Book Award, and Junior Library Guild selection. Christina currently lives in Miami, Florida, with her husband, sons, and a dog that can open doors. You can read more about her and her books at christinagonzalez.com.

Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook, instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.

Special thanks to the High Five Books & Art Always Bookstore, Ms. Carleton’s 2nd grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews.