I'm a writer, and my best characters are sort of 'voices in my head'?
Voices in my head, yes, I said it. Not normal? Hear me out. I have a feeling that at least one other writer out there does this.
When I create a character for a book, he (I'll say he's male to make the wording easier) starts as a clump of ideas, character traits, and history. I then write up a sheet about him, read it over a few times, and start writing him his own short stories. The weird part is, I know he's ready when he does something that I never wanted him to do.
Basically, my characters have minds of their own. Inside my mind. When writing, I rarely think, "What would he do?". Once they're developed, I simply let the character out and let him write his own lines. I gave him a personality, so he has no reason not to use it. Of course, he does, frequently. He's a person, or at least, an outline of a person - he is everything that makes a human separate from animals, but nothing more. Personality, opinions, morals, (or lack thereof), et cetera. My characters will never know things that I don't, but they can give me a completely different point of view, complete with comments, advice, and exactly what they would do if they were me. (Or more often, what they would do if they were actual beings)
This doesn't only apply to writing. I can have conversations with a few of my most beloved creations, in my head. They have minds of their own, completely different personalities. When faced with a problem, I can ask them for advice, and they can actually give me decent opinions that I would never have thought of.
So, is it normal to view the characters you create as not-quite-complete 'people', with their own personalities?
P.S.
I know they aren't real. *eyeroll*