Sidney Sheldon was such a talented writer that he couldn’t be contained to one single medium. The writer gained popularity writing for Broadway before progressing into Hollywood screenwriting. Television fans may remember Sheldon as the creator of popular programs such as I Dream of Jeannie and Hart to Hart.

It seemed that Sheldon had no shortage of compelling characters. “I hang on them,” Sheldon said of his them during an interview with The Desert Sun. “I don’t know if I control them or they control me. I think the latter.”

Through all of his success, Sheldon never seemed to view writing as a chore or a task to complete. “I don’t think of it as discipline,” said Sheldon. “I love writing. I don’t want to be out there, I want to be in here because writing is my greatest joy in life.”

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Later, Sheldon demonstrated a penchant for writing novels, an accomplishment he was enormously proud of. He also explained that writing for television helped make the transition to written work that much easier. “It helped enormously because I was trained to write in the visual, rather than narrative.”

Ultimately, writing was a passion for Sheldon. “I can’t help it,” Sheldon said during an interview with Newsday. “I love to write. Some writers call it work, but I love the creative process.”