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I always try to approach character first and foremost viscerally.

I usually start with an ending, then outline high points of things that happen, and kind of make up the rest as I go along. Occasionally, the characters surprise me, and I wonder how we got here. Other times, the characters are stubborn and won't do something I want them to in the story.

I start with characters, and then I start writing, and then, if I'm lucky, things start to happen.

I'm always writing about character first. Plot, such as it is, comes from the characters.

I am like my characters - sometimes even the female ones.

You live vicariously through your characters.

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

I get very involved in my characters. Sometimes I have a very hard time separating my characters from my life.

I try not to identify too strongly with any of my characters. I like to stand back and see them objectively. I think this is why I often use boys instead of girls, just in case I get too close and lose the overall picture.

Often the starting point for characters, for me, is finding a little, most minor detail, and I'll go from there.