Characters

Characters are an essential part of the story. Sometimes, they seem to take the story down an entirely different avenue than you, the writer, had originally intended. It can either be fun, or it can be annoying. Depending on how determined you were that the story go the way you’d originally intended. My characters have taken my latest story down a totally different path than I’d originally planned. It’s kind of funny, to see them get into all sorts of mishaps and have unplanned adventures along the way. How do you create your characters? Do you center them around the plot? Or do you just let their personalities form the plot? I usually start out with a plot in mind, but once my characters personalities kick in, they don’t always stick to what I had in mind.