You start with an empty 6x6 grid, seed it in the pre-game, and fill it in fully as you go. You can definitely seed it up front with things that occur to you in character generation, or just roll straight on one of the given Motif charts if you feel like yours isn't ready to roll on! Usually I'll do that if I have fewer than 6 to work with, but most often I don't need to dip into it much for the first scene or two, and those provide a lot more motifs to work with. Hope that helps! :)
so i can just fill 12 lines using the two charts that come with a scenario, and fill the remaining 24 as i play? i feel like the book could use more clear and direct explanations for these things. it took me, no joke, 5-7 readings of the whole book to mostly figure it out. thank you for the response! im really interested in solo play and have been looking for a good system.