Dear Author

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As an author have you ever wondered what your characters might say to you if given the opportunity?  Do you know your characters well enough to take the chance?

As I developed my protagonist in Menu for Murder, (Jayne Stanford) I learned more and more about her.  Jayne has become a very real person in my mind and I believe I could have a conversation with her, should she decide to pop off the pages and perhaps join me for dinner sometime. 

Jayne:  "So nice of you to finally invite me out."

Leslie:  "I felt it was time we met in person and I've taken the liberty of ordering your dinner."

Jayne:  "I'm sure you know all of my favorites but be aware that if you mess this up you'll need to go back to page 167 and do some re-writes."

Actually I wouldn't expect the conversation to be anything similar to what I've written above but posting that did give me a laugh. 

Jayne is a piece of me as well as a conglomeration of many of my women friends.  I hope that my characters become so real to my readers that they too would feel as if they are not simply a cardboard cutout but rather a living, breathing person. 

I'm sure Jayne and I would be great friends but if I am wrong I will definitely go back and do some re-writes!

Leslie


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