Popular Culture Review Vol. 17, No. 2, Summer 2006 | Page 83

When Fiction Becomes Reality 79 To save himself, Rainey tells Shooter, “You don't exist.’" Shooter answers: “I exist, Mr. Rainey. I exist because you made me. You thought me up. Gave me my name. Told me everything you wanted me to do. I did them things so you wouldn’t have to.” Writers create characters who do "‘them things” so they don’t have to. They live vicariously through their creations and allow their rea FW'2F