Shakespeare, Dickens, Mark Twain, and so many others were my dearest friends and greatest teachers.
It's true that it's a solitary occupation, but you would be surprised at how much companionship a group of imaginary characters can offer once you get to know them.
Writers really do that. We weep over our characters. We are saddened sometimes for days when we say goodbye to a world or a character. They do become our best friends. I've probably spent more time with them over the past 22, 24 years than I have spent with most of the real members of my family.
There's a lot about the character. It doesn't always happen, but there are some characters you really create a relationship with, almost as if they were your friend. And you never get into their heads again or think like them.
My characters surprise me constantly. My characters are like my friends - I can give them advice, but they don't have to take it. If your characters are real, then they surprise you, just like real people.
The reason I never want a book to end is that I start to feel like the characters are my friends. I'll miss them when they're gone.
It's always hard to wrap up a series. The longer I spend with the characters, the more they become like friends.
I love all my characters. I love their weaknesses and flaws. I feel like they're all my best friends and I adore being with them.
You never feel lonely if you're writing, because you're living with all these characters in your head.
I'm never lonely when I'm writing, because you live with the characters that are so alive in your mind. And you really see them and know them and get to be friends with them.
Biking through New York's boroughs in 2005, I thought about some old friends, Joe and Eileen Bailey. Though they are imaginary, I frequently talk to them.
