This creative relationship is a two-way street.

Have you ever sat down with your (so-called) fictional character for a chat?

Highly recommended.

Or not.

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“Hey Charlie, Bradley here. You know, author guy.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard the name,” Charlie said.

“You’re pretty funny for a guy I created.”

“That’s just it, you didn’t create me.”

“Oh really?”

“Really?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“So, Charlie,” Bradley paused and took a deep breath. “I thought I’d come say hello this morning just to get a little casual conversation going and then you attack me with that kind of thing.”

“‘Attack’? Seriously? So sensitive,” Charlie looked up from the newspaper he was so intently reading and looked at Bradley. He smiled that fake smile that was just a ploy to pretend to be nice and polite. It wasn’t working.

“Well, OK, fine,” Bradley collected his thoughts, unsure why he thought he had to be nice to this guy, this figment of his own imagination who seemed to come to life maybe a little more than he had bargained for.

“I just wanted to see when you were planning, well, you know, making an entrance,” Bradley asked.

“Isn’t that your thing? Don’t you have to do that?”

“Yeah, about that,” Bradley looked away and pretended to be pensive.

“What about that?”

“I don’t know what’s in my hands anymore and what’s not,” he paused. “You,” he started.

“Yes, me.”

“You seem to have a life of your own now, so, well, I,” Bradley stuttered and stopped.

“You, yes, I’m still here.”

“I maybe thought you would be doing that.”

“Doing the make-an-entrance thing?”

“Yeah.”

“I see,” Charlie said, trying to sound as much like a psychologist as he could although he didn’t really know what a psychologist sounded like. He paused for emphasis, exhaled, and addresses his creator.

“Bradley.”

“Yes, Charlie.”

“I don’t know the slightest thing about publishing books.”

“Yeah, so I gathered.”

“I hate to break it to you, but you’re going to have to do that part.”

“I’ve been guessing that might have been the case.”

“Glad you’re picking up on things more quickly.”

“Am I slow?”

“Do you need me to cite examples from your history?”

“Do you know my history, Charlie?”

“I think our creative relationship is a two-way street.”

“Oh,” Bradley said.

“Yeah,” Charlie said.

“So should I kinda get moving on this?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No, you shouldn’t kinda get moving on this. You absolutely must get moving on this and you need to do it now.”

“Now like this minute?”

“Now like as soon as humanly possible.”

“This week?”

“What are you scared of?”

“You,” Bradley said before he could think of what he was saying and whom he was saying it to.