How many times when reading a book, <br />do we identify with the characters within? <br />Their traits they have we share, <br />their loves and heartaches <br />their lives go through somehow mirror our own. <br />It’s as if the author was writing about us. <br />As though he has put us under a microscope <br />and then writing down everything, he saw. <br />However, we know this isn’t so <br />because he or she has written <br />segments of their own life <br />and by accident they happen to mirror ours. <br />Every writer will tell you <br />that they have their characters under control. <br />Having written numerous novels, <br />I know the characters take on a life of their own <br />and do what they want to do. <br />We become their instrument as they guide us on our way. <br />We end up writing what they want us to say. <br />To every writer his characters are real, <br />they live, breathe and feel. <br />The more you write about them, <br />the more alive they become. <br />So the next time you pick up a book <br />and the characters seem real, <br />they probably are to the author <br />who looks after them. <br /> <br />24 September 2008<br /><br />David Harris<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-mirror-image-2/
