On Writing...Character

"What is character but the determination of incident?/ What is incident but the illustration of character?"                     --Henry James

20 Master Plots by Ronald B Tobias

'If you use your characters to say what you want them to say, you're writing propaganda.  If your characters say what they want to say, you're writing fiction.... You manipulate characters in the sense that you make them conform to the basic requirements of your plot.  You don't let them run roughshod over you.  In a sense, you build a corral for your characters to run around in.  The fence keeps them confined to the limitations of the plot.  But where they run inside the corral is a function of each character's freedom to be what or who he/she wants within the confines of the plot itself....  Start with a premise, not a conclusion.  Start with a situation.' (page 43)