There was something appealing in thinking of a character with a secret life that her author knew nothing about. Slipping off while the author’s back was turned, to find love in her own way. Showing up just in time to deliver the next bit of dialogue with an innocent face.
Karen Joy Fowler The Jane Austen Book Club
Saving characters is like saving string. You never know when you may need that piece of string.
Margaret Atwood, Globe&Mail, June 29, 2002 R9
I feel that very strongly about my characters…. In a profound sense you are not manipulating them. They are free – it isn’t that you set them free – they are free.
Margaret Laurence, A Conversation with Robert Kroetsch, 1970
