Hey Gail, I was wondering since you write so many different characters with so many different personalities, do you ever have a hard time getting into some of their heads? And do you ever have a hard time keeping their personalities distinct and separate,

I don’t. For whatever reason, this seems to be a problem I don’t have. Mark Waid very sweetly compliments me about this often, that the characters all have their own voice, no matter how many are in an issue. It’s a comment I treasure, obviously, because Mark is simply one of the best writers comics has ever had.

I think it’s because generic dialogue and character hits my ear the way off-note singing hits a musician’s. It just grates…bad dialogue, bad character work, they drive me positively batty. So it’s something I pay attention to…I don’t write a story until I KNOW the characters, and I mean really know them. Once you know their story, and what they dream of, and where they came from, and what breaks their hearts, you can write them fearlessly without concern about them seeming generic.

Anyway, that’s what I think about that, it’s never a problem, I never feel like I have to make one character stand out from the rest. If I did my homework, they already stand out.

At least, I hope so. :)