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I want things to be characters and not me. Why would I want to play me?

The goal is to have every character take on a life of his or her own. Sometimes characters will come into the story that I haven't planned.

When you play a character, there are choices you have to make about the past, the present, the future, etc. You have to make those choices on your own a lot.

When you put your characters in a dire situation, they often do things that surprise even you, so you have to go back and revise your original conception of who they are.

It's why you create characters: so you can argue with yourself.

Unlike life, you've got more or less complete control over what's going on in your stories. That's not to say you can make characters do whatever you want them to - they usually have a life of their own if you've done your job properly.

Characters are so important to a story that they actually decide where the story is going. When I write, I know my characters. I know how things are going to end, and I know some important incidents along the way.

So you can't judge the character you're playing ever.

I'm not saying that I am all of my characters, but for me to bring a character to life, you've got to be able to find your own truth.

You'll work hard to create characters that are compelling and unforgettable. But in the end, it's the story that matters.