Do you know your characters as if they were real? Do you know exactly the way they look? Do you know their families and friends, their likes and dislikes, education, job, hobbies? Have you "lived with your character?" Have you talked with them? Gone places with them?

My first character was a 14 year old girl named Jazmin Kara Witney. I knew her as if she were real, as if she was a close friend or a sister. I knew her family and friends. I knew what she liked, what she did, where she went, and of course, how and where she lived. Basically, Jazmin was a mixture of the person I was and the person I wanted to be. Through her, I lived the life I couldn't live. I didn't have any sisters, but Jazmin did. She even had a twin. I didn't have many relatives living near enough for me to visit. But Jazmin did. All my cousins were much younger than me. I was 13 and they were 8 or younger. But Jazmin had cousins her age and older than her.

Because Jazmin was my way to live a life I wanted, I thought about her a lot. I thought of what she did and where she went. I thought of her social life, her friends and family, and most of all, her school. I didn't go to school. I was home-schooled. But Jazmin did and through her, I could live the school life. Through her, I could walk in school halls and slam the locker door. Through her I could talk to classmates and teachers. Because Jazmin and I were so "close" it became very easy to write about her.

But Jazmin wasn't the only person I could write about. I was also able to write about her sisters and friends because I knew them, too. Jasmin's friends were my friends, her family was my family. Jazmin's house was my house, her school was my school. I could write about it all, as if it really existed.