Sunny the Sassy asked Jennifer A. Nielsen:

Hello Mrs. Nielsen! First off, I want to thank you so much for your beautiful books that were my support and hard times, helped me make friends, and inspired me to try writing my own stories! I wanted to know two things: 1. Do you ever add any of your own qualities, preferences, or personality into your characters? How does that affect your writing? 2. How do you develop each character's unique voice? Thank you!

Jennifer A. Nielsen Hi Calliope - thank you for your kind words. Let me answer your questions: 1) I occasionally add very personal things to my characters. For example, I am a leftie, so Sage in The False Prince is a lefty. My sense of humor is definitely similar to my characters, and sometimes the words they say are things I feel very strongly about. But not always, because my story needs to serve the plot first, not me. So I'm always focused there. 2) A character becomes unique when the author begins to treat them like an individual in the author's imagination. So as I imagine a character, I begin asking them questions such as, "If you were alive today, what kind of car would you drive?" Or if a song comes on the radio, I ask if they like it. Those specific questions begin to define character for me in a way unique to any other.

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