Writing by the seat of your pants

For me, story stems from character, so I start with a character and a situation and I go. I write 10,000 words a week without conscious choice. Sometimes, I get stuck. This week has been a little bit of torture while the characters and I wrestle for control. I'm winning, and that's bad. If story stems from character, the character should lead, so when I'm "in control," I'm not writing 10,000 words (this has been a rough week).

And then I happened upon this article on The Case for Writing a Story Before Knowing How It Ends. Andre Debus III says, "But during my very early writing, certainly before I’d published, I began to learn characters will come alive if you back the fuck off. It was exciting, and even a little terrifying. If you allow them to do what they’re going to do, think and feel what they’re going to think and feel, things start to happen on their own. It’s a beautiful and exciting alchemy. And all these years later, that’s the thrill I write to get: to feel things start to happen."

It is magical when the characters take control, but then again, I think writing is a special form of magic. Happy Writing, my friends.