See, that's actually very helpful to hear, because my tendency is to see the end point (whether that's how she is when she meets Clint or how she acts at X point in time) and try to manipulate the circumstances to shape her so she ends up like that. When I put aside my notion of what she'll be like later, and focus on what she wants to do now, suddenly everything becomes much easier. The character can drive the action and the consequences, and later chapters are always rewriteable. I've stopped jamming her into a corner, I guess.

I snagged Sandman from my library and read all of it in under a week. It was brilliant. The best part is, I get the feeling I didn't completely understand everything the first time through, so I can reread it over and over and catch more new things.

Osmosis via internet; definitely had that happen before. If only it worked for my classes too...