Now, tell me this character is pure imagination...

[Korpo]

Then, once you get into it, other things happen. I got to like Carl (the name of the main character and the narrator of the story). When I got stuck, we'd take long walks and have imaginary discussions together, and he would explain what he would do in whatever situation I'd stuck him in and how he felt about it.

http://www.alternet.org/story/109860/wh ... age=entire

Actually, this book discussed ("Salvation Boulevard") is about religion - a situation chosen for its dynamic:

The corpse is an atheist professor, the accused an Islamic foreign student, the defense attorney is a Jewish lawyer, the investigator is a born-again Christian -- The Mystery is God. God is the great mystery.

But, given that the author had to mentally create the figure that is so different from himself and his views, and that he later on is capable of dialogueing with it - that's quite something.

Oliver

[ButterflyWoman]

I have done a bit of writing, as well as role playing games (yes, well, I'm nerd, what did you expect?). I can tell you that once you create a character, it really does take on a life of its own. I've had characters do things that were actually against their best interests, simply because it was their character to act in a certain way (as we all do). I've had characters who were and are still "with" me in some fundamental way that I can't entirely explain....

I didn't understand this until I learned about the creation of thoughtforms. When you invest a lot of energy and imagination and thought into the creation of a "person" (or creature, or anything, really), it really does start to take on a "life" of its own. Possibly, some sort of astral consciousness fills it (I've read that when you create an angelic thoughtform, an angelic energy is likely to come and inhabit it very quickly, for example). Perhaps some part of our own consciousness fills the thoughtform. Perhaps all of the above. But, yes, when you create a character and really put your energy and time and effort into it, the character will "live" in a some fashion, even if it's only in your own personal corner of the astral (i.e., your imagination ).