the unnecessary detail

This weekend at my agent's annual client retreat, we spent some time talking about character development. There were a few distinct camps of thinking about character, although I am not absolutely convinced that the way we produce character is much different. Let me try to describe the two:

1. Writers who have a sense that the character acts or speaks to the writer and refuses to do or say somethings, almost directing the novel toward a goal that is rarely the same as the author's original en...