I had an interesting epiphany yesterday.  I was thinking back on the superhero fiction I wrote while in college (see it in the Fine Arts -> Prose section) and an obvious question popped to the surface:  How would Medea and Enchantress ever meet up in the first place?  Why would they have a common ground?  Brock (the DM) started the gameplay in media res, and we were already a group on the beat.  (Backstory?  Who needs stinkin’ backstory?  It’s for wimps…)

They’re both parts of me:  Medea the fiery (in more ways than one); Enchantress the gentle and caring, intuitive.  Medea’s the geek, strongly opinionated, thinks in terms of black and white (I’m right, you’re wrong), and a loner, a bit of an outcast.  On the one hand, she doesn’t mind it so much, maybe even likes it, but still - it gets lonely.  She’s smart and knows it, so she’ll take care of her problems by herself, thank you very much.  Enchantress, while not gregraious, is polite and always has a kind word, willing to see a situation from the other point of view.  She’s a friend you might sit with at lunchtime if you ran into her on the way there.  You’d enjoy a chat with her on your way home from work on the bus/train.  She’s shy - more along the line of reserved - but not withdrawn like Medea is.  So what’s their motivation for meeting up?

It’s simpler than it seems: Medea obviously wouldn’t - it’s not in her nature.  Enchantress would.  She’s also more prone to the mystical (also the origin of her power), so there ya go.  Ta da!  Actually, I got here first and then the paragraph above evolved from that.  Very freaky.

Now, the chicken or the egg question.  Should your plot derive from the motivation of the characters, or should the motivation of the characters drive the plot?   I’m just a little evil today, thank you!