The Character Café: Welcome to the Life and Times of Imaginary People

Anastasia: I'm Anastasia and I live in Columbus, Ga with my 'boys' as I call them - my wonderful husband and my active toddler. I've been writing my whole life it seems and wouldn't have it any other way. I write mostly Epic Fantasy novels but do delve into Sci-Fi and Urban Fantasy genres along with poetry and short stories.

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Jen: Okay. I'm Jen and I live in Genoa City, Wisconsin with my two Pomeranians. I'm the author of the Dark Heirloom series. I'm an aspiring writer of the Urban Fantasy genera. I also have a few poems, but I stick to novels. Hehe.

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Anastasia: Jen and I met on Writing.com and became fast friends. Our love of the dark side bonded us together instantly. We finally traded crits for each other’s works, (Dark Heirloom and Burden of Prophecy) and our friendship was cemented in laughter, love, and imaginary people.

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Jen: Lots of laughter!

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Anastasia: Indeed!

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Jen: Anastasia and I became fast fans of each other’s characters. Since we both talk to our own characters on a regular basis, it was just a matter of time before my characters started talking to her and vice versa.

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Anastasia: Oh yes. In time it became obvious how our characters took over and soon the characters were talking - to both of us! Now, it is a rare occurrence where we have a conversation where one of the characters do not make an appearance.

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Jen: Yup. One thing lead to another, and soon our characters were talking to each other!

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Anastasia: Yes. I don't think either of us were prepared for how well they interacted either. Considering it's vampires and faeries from two totally different worlds, it's amazing to see them become friends with each other.

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Jen: Oh yeah. Our characters definitely have a mind of their own. Since then, it's been nonstop fun letting ALL of us mingle and chat. Though sometimes it can be chaotic, lol!

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Anastasia: That is very true! I'm sure some of you reading this think we have lost the plot here, but really, for me, my writing has improved immensely because of our character chats. My characters are more rounded with rich, deeper emotions - and I can convey those traits so much easier on paper too.

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Jen: Definitely. Unleashing my characters and letting them chat with Anastasia's has helped me see their true, unique voice. They reveal emotions and sides of themselves that I didn't realize were there - and I apply those gold nuggets to my writing all the time.

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Anastasia: With that in mind, we created this blog to unleash our characters to the world! We can't contain them in our own heads anymore! Okay, honestly, they bugged us until we caved and gave them their own blog, LOL!

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Jen: Haha! Yes. This was really Anastasia's idea, but I think it was only a matter of time, really. We love chatting with our characters so much that we saved copies of the chats! It was really just a matter of time before we realized how awesome it would be to share them with the world.

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Anastasia: Yes. So we crafted this space outside our heads just for them to talk to their fans and other characters too! Jen and I have stayed up late at night for a week planning every detail of this space to give our characters a comfortable place to share their thoughts and feelings.

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Jen: That's right. Anastasia's Fairies will blog on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My vampires will blog on Wednesdays and Fridays. Every Saturday will feature our famous "Character Chats" where you can see the awesomeness of multiple characters chatting with each other for yourself.

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Anastasia: Oh yes. The Saturday parties are definitely fun! Mondays will be for guest characters! That could be a minor character from our own works or even from other authors. Jen and I might make a few appearances to talk about the stories’ progress. I can't wait to see what other types of creatures we have visiting this space.

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Jen: And that's not all. We also have monthly forecast, predicted by two very wise, yet very ... urm ... colorful characters that you will meet later on the site.

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Anastasia: Oh yes! September will be the start of the forecasts. So come back then to see what Harmona Tion and The Crone have to say about the future!

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Jen: This blog is sure to be a blast, and it will constantly change as characters come and go - completely unleashed! So dig around and come back often!

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Anastasia: Let your characters come too! They need a break from the craziness of writing and editing too, so let them relax and enjoy the musings of a few funny (or demented, however you want to say it) characters from the heads of two insane authors.

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Jen: Insane, pssh! Lol.

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Anastasia: Oh right, I forgot. You can subscribe to this blog to get email updates of our posts by clicking on the "Sign me Up" button on the bottom right. You can also email the characters to ask them questions or leave them a personal message or two!