From a Guy

Question:

 I love your books!!! They have a lot of suspense, humor, and real life situations.  Well I was wondering, in ”Intensely Alice”  why it was ——-  that you chose to die. It could have been anyone else.
                 Also, If you are adding a new character in the last books, can you try to think of making the characters name ”—-”. That’s my name and I don’t care what personality you give me, I just think it would be cool reading my name and knowing I’m part of the book. I’m sorry it might be too much too ask but it would mean a lot to me.
 I love the best friend trio. Alice, Elizabeth and Pamela are the perfect combination of personalities to make perfect best friends. Elizabeth usually is the one who actually thinks about consequences of things and she is still fun but prefers staying safe. Pamela is the one who suggests
all the crazy things and actually considers them. She is the life of the party!  Alice is curious. Alice’s life is like a rollercoaster and she is lovin’ it at time  and is getting confused at times.

Phyllis replied:

I suppose I could use your name, but what if I killed you off?  No, sorry, but I never use names of people I know, or people who write to me.  It begins to affect how my characters behave, and I’ve got to let them be themselves.  I chose the character I did to have the tragic death because I knew how deeply it would affect the relatives.