I (heart) Character Development

I really have always had a passion for developing characters. When I was a wee lass, I wanted to write stories, but more often than not came up with character profile pages. And instead of writing, I would draw these imaginary friends for hours on end, until my interest in them was spent.

In more recent years, my fascination with characters was transferred to my love of MMORPGs. My boyfriends always chuckled at the time and care I would give to my video game heroes' appearance - and at the impracticality of having 7 different characters that I could never possibly get to the end game. [It's true, the closest I ever got was within 8 levels of maxing out the character before I ran out of steam and switched to another.]

Come to think of it, I haven't played any MMOs in quite a while. What's interesting is how addictive they are. Every few days I still feel a slight tug to pick up World of Warcraft. And pretty soon The Old Republic is coming out, which means Jamie and I will be spending less snuggle time, more kicking virtual ass time. 

Yet I'm starting to think that this time away from the instant gratification of MMOs is doing me some good. The more time I spend daydreaming and putting story lines together, the closer I am getting to having a fully developed fiction story! Without the constant red-eyed-zombie "MUST...KILL...HORDE" fog to keep my creative side occupied, I've been able to massage and coax my atrophied imagination back from limbo. I just know I have years of tidbits stored in there somewhere.

...Old Republic...This means I have mere weeks to write my novel before I revert back into a hunchbacked, sleepless, Ramen-eating, Dr. Pepper-guzzling adolescent gamer. Wish me luck!