I am still finishing my first novel, Subduction, but the process of watching the characters develop independent of my will has been a revelation. The characters speak to me. No, not to me, in front of me, allowing me to record their conversations. They get mad, frustrated, if I leave them in limbo for too long; and when I return, they refuse to turn their heads at my tapping on the door until, finally, one of them crosses over and unlocks it, and then sits back down without looking at me. When I hover over them, clucking to keep them in line, they scatter across the page.
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