How real are our characters?

[L.J.]

“Characters are made of something more to the one who created them. They’re made of our dreams, our scars, slivers stuck beneath our skin. You ‘re not meant to meet someone like that. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s talking to the most alive person she’ll ever meet. The kind of alive you don’t find in real life. No one, no great love or her own flesh and blood, will ever come close. She’ll remember that glint in his eyes, the twist of his chin, a casual turn of phrase. She’ll hold it quietly in her mind like a fire. A fire that will consume everything.” Pg 46

How real are our characters? For those of us who are authors, do you feel more connected to your characters than to people in the real world? How do you feel you would be changed by meeting your characters?

Which of the characters you have written would you like to meet? Which wouldn't you like to meet? Why?