This week on the Queer Sci Fi Facebook group, we had a discussion about that old idea that a character can take over your work, either revealing something about themselves that you as the writer didn’t know, or carrying off your story in an unexpected direction.

I was surprised at the reaction to the discussioj. Some folks jumped in and said they totally felt that way – that their characters sometimes took the wheel – and that they loved when it happened to them. Others were opposed to such thinking out of the gate, almost offended at the suggestion that they might not have total control of their own work.

I fell into the middle camp, looking at those occasions as balloons sent up by my own subconscious, but I sound the whole metaphor charming.

The thing is, there is no RIGHT way to write. In fact, there are as many ways to do so as there are writers.

Some folks want to work in the privacy of their own home, in a quiet writer’s den. Some can’t write unless they are surrounded by noise and light and life in a café.

Some people write longhand on a yellow legal pad. Others use Word or a specialized writing app on their computer. And some writers find it freeing to use a speech recognition app.

For some of us, there’s no destination when we start a new story – we write by the seat of our pants, and the writing takes us where it will. Others outline the story down to the tiniest detail and need to know each beat of the story before they begin.

Some of us think stories should be driven by the characters. Others prefer to put the plot in the driver’s seat.

That’s one of the things I find most fascinating about writing, and working with other writers -that there are so many ways to do it. Often, I explain something about my methods or process to my writing friends, and the other authors around me chime in to say “Yes, it’s like that for me too!”

But just as often, they have their own experiences and methods that are very different from mine. And sometimes the way they see things gives me a new perspective on my own writing.

This writing game is an art, the words my paint, the keyboard my brush. And I’m doing it the only way I know how – my way.