Working on New Characters

The whisper of an idea for a novel came to me about eight years ago, during the time that I lived in Las Vegas and pieces of it have been floating around in my (strange) cranium for that many years. The other night, after reading the last chapter of The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee, I was inspired to actually begin putting together this novel that I have been playing around with for that long. It is amazing to me the process of building characters. I've only been working on this particular work for two days and already some of the characters that have been lurking in the shadows of my brain have surprised me with who they really are! For instance, one of the main female characters that I have been thinking of for several years as young, essentially good and innocent surprised me today when I peeked into her closet. I suddenly realized that she is not as innocent as I had previously assumed. I can't wait to see what other surprises lie in store for me as I get to know better these folks who have been my acquaintances for a number of years. Well, back to plotting...