I would never write about someone who is not at the end of his rope. Stanley Elkin

Piece in last Saturdays Times (3rd November 2007) by David Baddiel I suspect…one of the reasons that Dumbledore’s sexuality is not in the books is that it may not have been present to Rowling when she was first writing him. Because most writers do not write with everything all sorted out beforehand. For most authors, writing is an organic process, where they improvise around some basic ideas that eventually coalesce (unite) into a story, like a shape emerging from the fog. Characters, once interacting with others within this process, grow and develop in unexpected ways, and sometimes it’s only at the end of it all – the point where Rowling is now, of course – that the author realizes exactly who they are.

This is something I am beginning to realise. Once you start, the characters themselves take over. An article by Noah T.Lukeman at: http://www.writersstore.com/article.php?articles_id=148 states; Many writers mistake the outer life of a character for the inner life and assume that by offering a physical description and a few surface details they have created a character. A writer’s job is to move beyond your characters physical traits and deep into the depths of who they are. You have the depths of your characters psyche before you and it is your job to plumb them. Authentic characters will have such a rich life of their known that you’ll often find them thwarting your plans; once they are real, living people, they act like real, living people: whimsically and unpredictably. This might mean throwing out much of your original plotting.

I can see my characters and I am living their lives. I just hope to don't have to commit murder for them...