As a writer, the characters I create may be but inklings of my imagination splashed out on a page.  But if I want to develop a realistic story {within the bounds of its own fiction}, I have to first develop realistic characters.  Characters with so much depth that the readers fall in love and forget while reading that really they are just typed-up bundles of words.  Like any real human, being they have a unique physical appearance sparked by one-of-a-kind DNA, a family situation, a social life to whatever extent, talents and quirks, a way of acting around other people that may or may not differ from the way they act alone, preferences to this color or that type of animal or this setting or that genre of movie, so on and so forth.  On my latest project I have tried really hard to make sure I know my characters back and forth just so I can understand how they will react when the conflict douses them in a whole new situation so far from their comfort zone.  On my so-far-twenty-eight-page Power Point I created for the development of the novel, fifteen pages are filled with information of about the characters, and six of those dive into full depth of the protagonist.  That's because these people need the chance to bloom.

  Throughout the process of breathing life into my characters, I have also learned how to take a deeper look at myself.  Not because they are a reflection of my own personality-- that would be unprofessional on my part as a novelist-- but because it has taught me to look beyond the outer shell of a person.  And yes, one can always take a deeper look inside themselves. 

  I have decided that their are two sides to me.

  One side has often been my shadow and has sometimes kept me shadowed from the time I was a child barely learning to speak.  The side that left me listening to conversations among friends but not inserting my opinion, not wanting to ask help from a teacher, terrified of my own tumbling and stunting skills, self conscious and worried about the teeniest-tiniest things after events with other people.  The shy, careful, quiet, reserved, submissive, introverted, self-disliking and only-self-trusting side.
  It doesn't necessarily always have to be a bad thing.  I am more inclined to think through and come up with every single possible outcome that could somehow come up were I to do something or another, which helps me avoid trouble. People usually also don't mind me cause I just keep my mouth shut in general.  They often also take me as sweet because of my desire to let other people do what they want first and then I'll follow suit.  
  At the same time, my bowing down to the will of some people can leave myself and others feeling jipped.  And being shy doesn't attract new friends.
   Then there's that other side to me.  The wild side.  The side that has me tossing my head back just long enough to say, "Catch me if you can!"