I very seldom, very seldom, even know what my characters look like. I keep it vague.

I have seldom been described as shy.

None of my characters are rich or famous, and the situations they find themselves in could happen to anyone.

All characters come from people I know, but after the initial inspiration, I tend to modify the characters so they fit with the story.

I feel like these characters, these places, these beings and plots, and even these inanimate objects are counting on me for survival. It’s my responsibility to reveal them to the world, to show my readers the names of these things, to show them their histories and stories.

I write fiction not for my readers and not for myself. I write fiction for the sake of those odd heroic characters that are contained therein. They are counting on me as much as I am counting on them.