I've written original material before, where I've come up with the idea and the characters myself, and that's definitely very different to working with someone else's characters and stories.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
One day, I discovered that a couple of people had written 'fanfic' - stories of their own based on my characters. Just the thought of people thinking that hard and deeply about something I've written is incredible.
I think a conceptual idea comes to me first - something I've been mulling over a lot right before I feel like writing a book - and then the characters start to develop around it.
It ended up being a very good thing, because they finally started writing for the character, and I realized that you have to go to work with a purpose. I learned from the experience and then moved on.
Well, I think in my own work the subject matter usually deals with characters I know, aspects of myself, friends of mine - that sort of thing.
From the beginning, when I first got an idea for a story and wondered if I could write it, it has always been the story that has driven me.
I create fictional narratives, but it's based on literal people.
Definitely they write themselves. It's an amazing experience. It's like the characters have come alive and are sitting on my shoulder talking to me, telling me their tales.
I was always inventing characters and making up stories.
One of the reasons I began to write was because I wanted stories for my children where the characters spoke as they did and had similar life experiences.
All characters come from people I know, but after the initial inspiration, I tend to modify the characters so they fit with the story.