Before I started writing, I thought characters were like puppets. The author pulled them out of a box, tugged on strings to make them do what she wanted, then put them away again.

Boy, was I deluded!

I wrote my first draft while living in that fantasy world. Then I heard Linda Howard speak at our chapter meeting about hearing characters ‘speak to you’. That’s a little weird, I thought. After all, I’m in charge of the story, right? But I tried, because after all, this was Linda Howard talking.

I still remember those first few times I tried to “listen” to my characters. And my utter shock when words—their words—started to float through my head. Over the years, that trickle has become a stream until now its unnatural for all of my characters to be quiet at once.  🙂

Makes for a pretty busy mind landscape, but that’s the nature of being a fiction author. Keeps life interesting (especially for my poor hubby who has to tolerate my constant daydreaming). But my hope is that it makes my characters more alive for readers, just like they are for me now.

Today, share with us the characters that you’ve become most attached to because they have become real to you. You know, the ones you just can’t stop thinking about!

Dani