Ah, it's nice to have the computer working for a change . . . How did my characters pop out of my mind? . . . well they each had their own way of becoming their own person. Much like dialyn stated, the characters are who they are, and once a certain quirk or personality trait appears, there's no going back. My characters definately have minds of their own, I just put their stories down on paper. Most characters that inhabit the world I'm presently creating for them developed out of a 'what if' and just blossomed from there. Example: Duoe S'val, who's basically a god in the sense that he created the worlds we live in--he didn't create life inself, just the worlds that life inhabits--came out of what my friends affectionally call a 'brain fart', where you go to say one thing and all that comes out is hot air. That hot air became the inspiration to include a god-like character within the folds of my little corner of the world, and the attempts to make him unique. Thus the premise of a half-human, bastard son of one of the fathering races, the Aoli. Duoe is small in stature, but has more power than his father's entire race put together. This conflict between his human half and his Aoli powers brings upon a character who is ancient yet dying from the inside out. It's the same thing for the other main characters, his wife and two sons. Seikyuu is a tall, blond, ex-assassin with a tortured soul and a rapid-fire tongue--quite the opposite from her do-good husband. Schaen, the eldest son, is a mute angel (he even has wings), with powers to heal and a horrendously deep case of depression. Lastly Mac, the youngest, basicly came out of the 'what if' question of Duoe's powers mixed with Seikyuu's loud mouth and a hyper-active personality. Can you imagine this group as the royal family of the Universe? -_-;; Each character develops within the story at their own pace, pushed forward by their own decisions and and the events that go on in the world around them. Of course, that's just the way my characters came into being. It's different for every writer, I believe, just as every person has different ways of attempting any obsticle in an field of art, business or just life itself. Man, I talk a lot. I'll shut up now. :):) ~Maj

Tanks for reading, and I'm happy that you were honest in your critiques. Most of my friends at school just read it and said "Oh, that's so amazing!" and nothing more, which has always been a pet peeve of mine.

In regards to the spelling errors, the final copy I sent to the judges for the workshop was typo-free and all polished, but when I went to look for the disk I had it saved on, I couldn't find it, and the only copy I had on my hard drive was the Notpad document I'd first typed it in before converting it to WordPerfect. I had forgotten it wasn't editted for spelling like the final copy. (Come to think of it, some of the wording might have been changed as well.) Ah, well. It was a learning experience.

In regards to Schaen (that's the angel's name :) and the portrayal of his character: I know I didn't do the greatest job of pulling it off. Part of the reason I chose to write this story at the time, was because Schaen is a character in a fantasy story I'm writing that actually centers around his mother. (Side not to anyone who's visited my galleries: the Poser figure I created named Aeva, who appears in much of my work is actually and 3D version of his mother) Because Schaen is mute, I wasn't sure how I was going to bring his emotions to light. That story is in third person, but I thought this one was better done from his point of view.

A major problem with giving Schaen his personality is who's his parents are and how they've rubbed off on him over the years. His mother grew up on the streets and acts as though she did, and his father is a god and is very old-fashioned. It's a hard mix to pin down. I'm still working on it though.

Thanks for the reviews. I guess I've learned a few things, not least of all being to type as fast as I think. The typos will be less then. ^^;;