More writerly-processy pondering

[gnomi]

I had coffee with a friend last night, and we got to talking about writer-type stuff. And that prompted this question: when you start a new story, does the plot come to you first or do the characters tend to show up first and then let you know, eventually, what the plot is? Does it vary depending on the type of story?

I'd love to hear from people who write all sorts of stories - genre, mainstream, whatever. If it's got plot and characters, I'd love to hear which order they come to you.