Characters

My characters really become such a part of me that I dream about them and think about them during the day.

I was driving to work after spending a few days living with a character that just presented himself. I needed a break from him, he had become all consuming, so I turned on the radio and heard the Arctic Monkeys song 'Do I wanna know?'.  There is a line in the song about dreaming about you every night and that there is a line about a tune that makes me think of you.  Well my character has a song and I had dreamed about him every night and here he was again.  This song was about him.

This character has become so pervasive that is is invasive.  I don't have a story for him.  I tried to listen to him and find his story but I don't really like it and yet I cannot shake him.

I generally have a story idea and discover the characters through the story or a situation and then the characters grow from there.  Then as they flow with the story I dream or think about them in context and it is not just one character who invades my mind.

How do you create your characters?  Are they story driven or do characters appear first and they drive the story?

Happy writing!