What I'd like to be able to do is apply a character style as I type the text
rather than having to stop, select the text to be styled, apply the character
style, relocate to the end of the text, and continue. This is straight
forward using direct formatting, but I cannot get it to work using styles.

If I enter text in a paragraph style and then go back and apply a character
style to the text that I've already entered, I get what I expect and want:
text with that style within a block of paragraph styled text.

If I enter text in a paragraph style, then select a character style to apply
to text as I enter it, and then try to return to the paragraph style, Word
seems to reasign the character style into the paragraph style: Subsequent
text, and even subsequest paragraphs, stay in the applied character style.

How do I "turn off" a character style so I can continue in the selected
paragraph style?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Very Respectfully,
Larry