Are you TO Attached to your Character’s?

Hi Fellow Bloggers,
I follow like this page on FB called The Writer’s Circle. The other day I saw this picture and it resonated with me so well. I am totally this person. My characters are real people to me. I talk about them like I do my other friends. When you write a novel you spend a lot of time with your characters. You know them like you know yourself (if they open up to you. Some are private and only share the barest of details.) You have witness my forums with my characters. As writers we much not only talk to our characters like we would each other we must respond to them. Several books later I catch myself writing about one character and comparing their behavior to another. I think about my characters in Forbidden more than I think about close friends some time. I hope I am not the only one that does these things.
It’s just that the characters become such a strong part of you. I remember when I first meet Ivy. She was shy, quiet and hated the spotlight. She prefers to let Anna have it. That didn’t mean she didn’t want a bit of attention every now and then. After weeks, months, and years with her I know that she hides a lion underneath her skin. There is something might and powerful about her. She is strong of will. The best part is I she didn’t know it either. We found out together. Three books later I feel like Ivy is one of my good friends. There’s been a time or two when I’ve thought to myself Ivy would probably love this.
As a writer we have a lot of people floating around in our heads. They speak to us. Tell us there stories. That was an opening for my admittance to a physic ward. Anyway my love for each of my characters continues even after they stop speaking to me. Or there voice gets quitter in my head so that I can listen to someone else’s. I have been writing for one character and written lines that sound like another. In my last book series Faith’s Awakening I did that. I would write dialogue in Ivy’s personality. Faith and Ivy are very different on the surface. One is shy/reserved and the other is fierce and speaks her mind. Dig a bit deeper and you can see similarities. They both desire to help those around them though at times they allow themselves to get in there way. Even with these things in common their personalities are different enough where if Ivy said something chances are Faith would never say that. So when I found myself writing dialogue that coddled people instead of told them the truth straight up I had to retrace my steps. I needed to set my book aside and spend time with Ivy so that she could express herself without interfering with Faith’s story. Then when she was done I went back to Faith.
I said all this to say… no matter how much time passes you will always be connected to your characters. They linger around, and you think about them. Maybe I’m just too attached to my characters. Perhaps I have some weird disorder that I need to get checked. Either way I am happy to be different.