According to Plan

At left, the automobile transport Cougar Ace aground in July, 2006. The photo is by Steve Hillebrand of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a part of his professional duties. The image can be found on wikicommons.

You have to live with the characters you write. For novelists, that means living with them for quite a while. You have to love them despite the flaws you give them.

Sometimes, you'll add something flippant in the writing which seems inconsequential. Later, it seems monumental.

If your character snaps at a question, it matters. If he is sullen, it matters. If the character lies to the reader, it matters.

Whatever they do matters.

You have to decide if you can live with them or not.

It's taken a bit to get this group to where I can spend my evenings in their company.

I hope your little imaginary friends are behaving themselves, too. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone how much their fake little lives matter to you.

It can be our secret.

Ours, and the one million people who will by your book.