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To me, characters are at the heart of great literature.

The characters are always the focal point of a book for me, whether I'm writing or reading. I may enjoy a book that has an intriguing mystery or a good plot, but to become one of my real favorites, it has to have great characters.

Readers embrace all kinds of characters as long as they are written with emotional truth.

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 of my characters are a little bit based on people I know in real life. You know when you do that you have to change the character a little bit in case your friend or your relative reads the book, because you don't want them to know you wrote about them... They might get mad.

Everyone loves characters that are relatable or who have unique quirks or tragic flaws.

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 like all my characters in one way or another, or at least I understand them.

In my own work, I don't have favorite characters, but I have characters that I relate to the most. And I relate the most to Simon from 'The Mortal Instruments,' and also Tessa from 'The Infernal Devices.' They're more sort of bookish and shy characters.

We writers of series fiction tend to idealize ourselves in our characters, giving them attributes we wish we possessed and ever more interesting lives.