Character or Plot (Chicken or Egg). Authors, what comes first for you?

As I begin to stretch my writing muscles, I have done some reading about writing to prepare (procrastinate). I thought maybe I should start with a short story or a shorter work before I dive back into my epic novel. As I did this, I went back and read from a book I purchased back about 20 years ago when I started to write down what the voices in my head were telling me. It’s called, How to Write & Sell Your First Novel by Oscar Collier with Frances Spatz Leighton.

The book was written nearly 24 years ago, so I wanted to skim through it and see if there was any information that is still relevant that can help me light my writing fire. A chapter that drew me previously is the 3rd one in the book titled, Do I Start With the Characters or the Plot? In my…