Even when I write in 3rd person, the character who drives the story affects the style.

Kathi, again, I write from characters who are distinct individuals. There’s a bit of me in everyone, including the villains — LOL — but they evolve into their own people. Because I usually get the idea for the character first and the character starts “telling” me the story, it’s the character’s story, not mine. Often, they’ll have some of my knowledge or charactertistics, or something I believe deeply. Loyalty and building family, two things that are important to me, tend to be recurring themes.

What’s great about being a writer is that anything we experience on any level becomes material. Sometimes, I’ll look back at something I wrote several years ago and realize how something in my life affected the course of the piece in a way I didn’t realize during the writing.

but I don’t write autobiography masked as fiction. If I want to write about my life — I’ve got the blog! 😉

I’ve lived in the dressing room through too many incidents where people objectify actors and can’t separate them from the characters they play. I try not to objectify them the same way when I write (even if they never know it).

Characters seem like real people when I write them; I know them and get to know them through the process, so I don’t need photographs.

As I mentioned above, I do keep physical notes on characters for series, so that I can remain consistent project-to-project, especially juggling multiple projects.

Sometimes a real person will serve as an inspiration for a character, but, when I do my job properly, the character evolves into an individual very different from the inspiration.

Colin, although I often do first drafts in longhand, DIXIE DUST was one of the first pieces done directly on the computer. (And it was a PC at the time — just got the mac!)

Kristen

Jenny, was Dixie Dust Rumors written straight onto the PC, or was this a long-hand story that eventually worked into electronic form?

For series, I do keep detailed character and plot bibles, and update them once a final proof has gone off, and refer frequently to them while I write the next book.

Judy, yes, DIXIE DUST was conceived as a stand alone, but I got the idea for DEAD MAN’S STALL, so I’ve started that — fingers crossed my publisher likes it!