Show me a character whose life arouses my curiosity, and my flesh begins crawling with suspense. - Fawn M. Brodie

I had an interesting epiphany on character today.

Epiphany was one of those words that my creative writing teachers always hated yet always let me get away with. I have a bad habit of epiphanies, at least with my characters. They like epiphanies. It makes the twisted and brambled sidestreets of the literary universe a little easier to navigate in the reader's steady hands.

But I digress.

In short, there are three characters - P, D, and J - conversing over coffee in an undisclosed location in Texas (Undisclosed here, not in the book.). In my manic typing, J said something, to which P responded, to which J retorted, to which P put J in her deserving place.

A few paragraphs later I realized that it was necessary for D to respond to J initially, simply to assist in flow. So I did what any first time lazy-arse writer does. I deleted P's name and put in D's.

And low and behold... all the sudden what was being said sounded completely absurd. And I realized it's for the simple reason that D would never say anything like that because it was clearly P's voice.

There is something comforting about the fact that already, a chapter and a half in, I've got the sense of P's voice. He's the main character, after all, and it really disturbed me that all of the sudden D was speaking like him. But at the same time, I was happy that even at this point, I could identify what these characters would and wouldn't say, because I understand their nature. I've reached the point I've been trying to with this novel for ages, the point that I knew I needed to reach before I could really tell their story... My characters are becoming real.

So I did what any real writer does. I reworked the dialogue.

In the realm of personal news, Queen Arachnia over here found her keys. I'm debating chronicling her maniacal escapades, but I refrain from doing so only because I know if I were to attempt publication she would insist her name remain Queen Arachnia. And I simply have too much pride for such things.