Good thoughts, Paula. (And congratulations on getting to do a guest blog post; that's an honor!)

Of course, I'm nowhere near as prolific (or able!) a writer as you are. When I do get an idea for a story (in the supernatural genre, or some other), I guess I'm more of a control freak; although I don't use index cards, I do plan out the plot ahead of time, rather than letting the story "write me." (Perhaps if I could do that, I'd be a better writer for it.) I do allow scope, especially with novels, for the plot to change as I'm writing and feeling the story, though.

It seems every writer's path to story is different and finding what works isn't easy, I think. I was just reading in Janet Burroway's Writing Fiction book, a quote by Eudora Welty, "If you haven't surprised yourself, you haven't written." That's the draw for me. Discovering what surprises the characters have to say to me and where they lead me.

Thank you, Werner.