Riana asked Leo Vardiashvili:

Yes, it's a great answer. The boulder image is such a perfect explanation, and this experience of the characters seizing the dialogue out of your hands sounds rather exciting. Living with a cast of independent voices in your head would certainly be a challenge - and I bet it's hard to turn them off at times. Have you often had to jot things down during the night when you are hoping to sleep?

Leo Vardiashvili Thank - there does come a point where I need a character to say something for plot reasons etc., and then realise that particular character would never say such a thing...
As for the voices, no, they really never troubled me. I wrote the novel around a demanding day job, therefore by the time I'd finished writing, I was exhausted and the voices had no chance to interrupt my sleep.
They did creep into my daily life - but only in the sense of me keeping an ear open for interesting ways people, especially Georgian people, might phrase something or an interesting saying, proverb, rumour etc.

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