After giving a book talk in my writing class, a student asked if the characters and events in my novel were real because I talked like I knew them intimately. I said, 'Yes.' Each character is a composite of people infused with a soul of their own and achieve a unique autonomy. Whether a character is organic, inter-material, or imagined, they are born and live real lives. Is the Mona Lisa real? Is she more or less real than Scarlet O'Hara, Ripley, Ophelia or Kara Thrace? Is the oppressed black man in artist, John Wilson's, 'The Incident' more real than Tom Robinson in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'? Characters in fiction and films are real. Why else would their followers remember them, deify them. Readers/viewers know iconic characters often better than their colleagues or family. What characters have you become addicted to?