The will is never free - it is always attached to an object, a purpose. It is simply the engine in the car - it can't steer.
A novel's whole pattern is rarely apparent at the outset of writing, or even at the end; that is when the writer finds out what a novel is about, and the job becomes one of understanding and deepening or sharpening what is already written. That is finding the theme.
It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep, than a sheep at the head of an army of lions.

