Stealing characters from real life

I think one of my favorite things about writing is developing all the little quirks that make a character real. Those little ticks and habits that remind you of people you know. I’d much rather talk about how a character can’t stop twirling her hair than tell you about how so-and-so has blue eyes.

I tend to incorporate traits of people I know: me, my husband, an old friend. For example, I’m the hair twirler; my husband has the blue eyes. That’s how I know at some point...