That Awkward Moment When Your Characters Actually Exist

So, you know that awkward moment when a character from your head suddenly appears in your real life? You don't? Oh, well I do.

Yeah, today marks the second time that someone in reality actually looks like one of my characters from my book, Forget-Me-Not and the sequel, Morning Glory. What? This doesn't happen to normal people?

The first time I ever saw someone who looked like one of my characters was about one year ago, before Forget-Me-Not had been contracted for publication. Therefore, no one knew about my novel besides myself and my mother.

I was sitting in a college event that my Freshman Seminar had required me to attend. It wasn't much. Mostly young kids reading poems that they had written and the college students who had taught them were beaming with pride.

It was then, when the next group of kids and their college student teacher came up to present, that I saw him. If Cole Dyami had a twin brother, this man would be him. My main male protagonist from my novel, Forget-Me-Not, was now walking, talking, and physically in front of me. And being the mature young adult I am, I freaked out right then and there. In front of my friends. Who simply stared. Of course, I couldn't tell anyone why because I was too embarrassed.

But I seem like less of a freak now that I can explain how crazy this all really is. You know, a fictional character that somehow exists outside of the realm of books.

So now I can explain how a guy in one of my classes looks like another one of my characters. Oh, and they have the same name. The. Same. Name. Oh, you know, no big deal.

But, it actually is a big deal. Because I don't know how to handle the fact that twice a week I will have a guy in my class who looks/acts like a character from my latest novel, Morning Glory.

Why does my life suddenly feel like a weird romantic comedy?

Or boys who originally were in books, but escaped into the author's real life...