Author Leigh Bardugo says one of the greatest pleasures as a writer is discovering your characters, their mannerisms, senses of humor, salient qualities. Some characters come to her fully formed, arrive speaking clearly like Mattias in her book Six of Crows who is loud, dogmatic, and full of drama. Others take longer to get to know and develop. Writing a first draft when can feel like an awkward first date … you have to ask your characters questions and feel them out to see where they want to take you in the story.
