Acknowledged.

"Lastly, a very special thanks to my characters, who bravely face the dangers I force them to confront, and without whom I wouldn't have a story.


May your swords stay sharp!"
-Christopher Paolini.

I was re-reading Eragon (best book ever) and flipping through the pages when I found the author's acknowledgments at the end. As a kid, I wouldn't have really read these, but I find now that they are very quite interesting.

Where do characters come from? They are our imagination, but sometimes they just seem to appear in our heads, as real as ever (heh, what is real anyhow?). Its a strange thing, but in the mind of an author, they are just as real as you or I; they have motivations, fears; they love, they burn with anger. We make them confront things we would be frightened to confront, and we have them learn things that people wouldn't normally learn in day to day life. I was thrilled when Paolini acknowledged this basic current of creative writing... because I am sure his characters really did, apart from Paolini, move the story along.

The scary thing is having your characters die... I heard its really hard. Or having them be emotionally hurt. Its interesting, its like feeling your characters' pain inside of you when they get hurt. Its fascinating how authors move around with their characters.

So,

may your swords stay sharp!

-Abi