Derek asked David Dalglish:

How long are your characters in your head before you start using them in a story?

David Dalglish It varies. If it's a major character, someone I plan on keeping around a while with significant amounts of chapters from their POV, I'll usually have the idea of their character and who they are bouncing around in my head for a month or two prior to write whatever book they're in.

Minor character? Sometimes not even the day before, which allows a few of them to surprise me in how interesting they are (prime example would be someone like Luther from the Paladins).

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