Alas, Poor Theo

My new work in progress is a trilogy. And I am right now introducing my favorite character . . . (or one of them). His name is Theo, and he kind of looks like the guy at left, except my Theo has blue-gray eyes. And unfortunately . . . Theo . . . meets a grim end. I know this, so every scene with him just makes me ache. The more I like him, the more I know I will cry when the time comes.

Yes . . . my characters are that real to me. I love Theo. In a very real way. And oddly enough, I can't simply decide to spare him. You would THINK . . . "She's the author, so she can make whatever she wants happen." But to me, the process is much more "real" than that. I can no more undo what is going to happen to poor Theo, than I can suddenly snap my fingers and make my toddler stop his habit of taking off all his clothes and running around "nakie." You know, it just is. And just as my world is real, so is Theo's, and there are aspects of it that seem, in many ways, pre-ordained. Just as J.K. Rowling knew what was going to happen in the last book . . . I am very clear as to what happens to all the members of this particular clan. It is their destiny.

So . . . does anyone else relate? Do your characters have destinies that you cannot control?