Almost everyone here knows that your characters have to be a realistic as possible. A lot of people here hears their characters voices in their heads, and talks or writes to them.
People write letters to their characters? Okay. I didn't know that.
But do they're characters know that they're imaginary? Have you ever talked to them about how they only exist in your and soon the reader's head?
No. That would be silly. They already know, seeing as how they are a part of me and I control them (to an extent).
Or do your characters just know that they're not real, without you needing to tell them?
This.
I don't know about other people, but my characters and their stories are closer to dreams than anything else. Being a lucid dreamer, I can control my dreams (and by extension my characters and their stories) to a certain extent, but as dreams are mostly the work of the subconscious mind, there are elements that I can't control or have a limited influence on consciously.
My characters do talk to me, but it's more like "Hey! You haven't worked on my story in a while..." or "I have this great idea for some conflict/plot!" or they make comments on situations that I'd never actually say out loud but which amuse me nonetheless. Basically, they act as voices for certain aspects of my personality that I might not otherwise be aware of.
Every once in a while, if I'm really bored and have nothing else to do, I'll talk to them to amuse myself. Really, though, it's just the same as a day dream.
In short, my characters exist for the purpose of amusement (usually mine). I know that, they know that (because they're all part of me), and the readers know that. End of story.
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