Most people live in the real world, but writers? Well, we have an excuse to live in make-believe-ville. We create people, places, and conflicts. We throw our characters into sticky situations with no hope of reaching their goals. On their journey, they learn about their deficiencies, how to adapt, and what they’re made of. Not-so-nice people or natural forces tend to make things difficult for them, preventing them from getting from point A to point B. It’s a messy existence, if not totally depressing. How could things get this bad? What did they ever do to deserve misery? We writers can be downright mean sometimes, but we can also be their cheerleader.

In creating our fictional worlds, though, we tend to cross the line between fantasy and reality. We live with our imaginary friends and enemies for so long, we tend to become attached to them and treat them as real people. What’s worse? We don’t even realize we’re doing it. 

We get so accustomed to having them around, they invade our dreams and pop up at the most inopportune times, like smack dab in the middle of important events. Some days, functioning without them can be a real chore. We can’t even butter our toast and smear it with jam without fixing an extra plate for our heroine. Don’t they get hungry, too?

However, other days, our precious pals can be big pains. They refuse to listen, work with others, give into their stubbornness, or do what’s required. When they cross us the wrong way, we then tend to verbally fuss at them until rude onlookers throw dirty looks and pull us back down to earth. How dare they interfere with our inventions?

Those days when we find ourselves caught up in our adopted families’ ordeals, we can be sucked into their drama and empathize with their trauma. We can feel their despair as well as their joy. We can relate to them in ways our own family members can’t. We look forward to spending time with them. 

The sign we’ve gone over the edge, perhaps, is when we feel so comfortable around them we try to add their names to our guest lists. 

Yes, at that point, it’s time for an intervention.