Book characters and imaginary friends

“Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your
characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.” - Ray Bradbury

"It's true that writing is a solitary occupation, but you would be surprised at how much com- panionship a group of imaginary characters can offer once you get to know them." - Anne Tyler

“All morning I struggled with the sensation of stray wisps of one world
seeping through the cracks of another. Do you know the feeling when you
start reading a new book before the membrane of the last one has had
time to close behind you? You leave the previous book with ideas and
themes -- characters even -- caught in the fibers of your clothes, and
when you open the new book, they are still with you.”
- Diane Setterfield