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In anything I've ever written, all the characters sound like me, which I don't think is a bad thing. It makes sense. But I had always admired filmmakers who made movies that didn't sound like them at all.

I've always kind of ripped from real life to some degree or at least how I'm feeling in the moment.

I try to write characters that are as real, emotionally and psychologically, as I can make them; I feel the same way about setting. This often means that I'm drawing from my experiences and observations.

Some characters think more like me than others; some think more like my dad or someone else. It certainly is made up of my experiences, things I've heard, things I think are funny, things I think are sad. There's sort of a strange, blurry version of yourself in there.

Every reader knows about the feeling that characters in books seem more real than real people.

Part of me becomes the characters I'm writing about. I think readers feel like they are there, the way I am, as a result.

All I can guess is that when I write, I forget that it's not real. I'm living the story, and I think people can read that sincerity about the characters. They are real to me while I'm writing them, and I think that makes them real to the readers as well.

After a while, the characters I'm writing begin to feel real to me. That's when I know I'm heading in the right direction.

When I create characters, I create a world to inhabit and they begin to feel very real for me. I don't belong in a psych ward, I don't think, but they become very real, like my own family, and then I have to say goodbye, close the door, and work on other things.

When I am writing a story it feels as real as the life I am experiencing off the page. It's an emotional illusion, I guess.