My son gave me "On Writing" as a Christmas gift. I just read page 163 three times. I can't believe that you actually confirmed my "crazy" premise. Stories make themselves. I tell everyone, who asks how I create plots and characters, the same in other terms. I tell them that the story writes itself and the characters create themselves as I write. I have never outlined, plotted or (God forbid) decided the ending before I began. Yes, there are writers who actually do that. Thank you for letting me know that I'm, at least, no more crazy than Stephen King. P.S./ I'm digging up my next fossil - a crazed and perverted private eye who hunts down undocumented immigrants for bounty. Paul.