Goodreads asked Doug Macdougall:

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Doug Macdougall This is not an easy question to answer because there are so many good things to say about being a writer. Here's just one 'best thing,' and it relates to my recent novel, Diamond Men. Until I tackled this book I had only written non-fiction. Switching to fiction was, for me, a challenge. But what I loved about it was the absolute surprise at seeing the characters emerge and grow and evolve as the writing progressed. At times it was almost like an out-of-body experience: the characters were the product of my imagination but I felt like an observer watching over their lives. There were days when I couldn't wait to sit down at the computer and find out what they were going to do next.

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