Okay, so lately I've been noticing something weird about my writing: I can come up with characters just fine, but creating an actual plot or story to put them in is much harder. And I do like the characters I create. I am very attached to them, and think just letting them stay inside my head would be a shame. But I feel like the story has to be JUST RIGHT for them. Because of this I've spent at least three, maybe four years working on this, and I keep coming up with a bunch of different premises and ideas--ranging from a slice-of-life high school coming of age to urban fantasy to just plain horror--but none of them seem good enough.

Does this situation sound familiar to anyone else?

I can't say I really have. I find that part of developing characters is thinking up some sort of back story for them, which usually gives me a vague idea at least for what direction the rest of their life should take or what type of world they live in.

That might help with your problem, actually. Ask yourself: Why is he/she like this? The answer should give you some idea of where they've been, which will hopefully help you decide where they're going.

I have a similar issue - I tend to come up with characters before I have any plots, and now I have a ton of loose characters floating around with no concrete storylines. But I do try to write them, even if it's just silly little drabbles.

My recommendation would be to just take one of the story premises you have and just run with it. It's okay if it doesn't feel "good" enough - the premise of a story doesn't matter nearly as much as the execution, and that's something you can only work out by getting your ideas down on paper. Your stories may not pan out the way you want them to, and you may have to make major changes and scrap ideas, but that's okay! Your rough draft isn't supposed to be perfect.

I have quite a few characters who I've written and rewritten into different genres and scenarios. Some of their stories went somewhere, and some fell flat on their face. But I liked the characters I created enough to rework them into different kinds of stories, and it was a lot of fun.

It's easy to get discouraged by thinking a story premise is dumb before you've written it, but try not to sweat it too much. If anything, a good cast of characters can make up for a weak or silly plot, and it sounds like you're the kind of writer who puts a lot of thought into their characters. Hope that helps!

This is actually the story of my life and why I stopped writing. I have characters I love, characters with some small degree of a background, but then nothing for them to do.

I have a set of human characters who I try story ideas out on... (My methodology is kind of unusual/strange, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway...) I love the characters, they are like best friends, but I don't have a set story for them yet and I am beginning to wonder if I ever will. That said, story ideas I tried out with them first have often blossomed into fully fledged story lines or at the very least they have been incorporated into other stories...

My suggestion is just to make notes of the ideas that you like and create characters around those ideas at a later time. Think of the repeat characters as writing aids that can help you flesh out concepts.

YEP this is my problem actually it's really frustrating

something i think is worth saying: usually when i have this problem i just write little drabbles containing the characters. like a scene from a larger story. doesn't solve it entirely, but it's a start.

oh, and thank you , i'll be sure to take your advice.