If the author is not present in the book, how is Valmiki present in Ramayana?

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exists in the Mahabharata or Valmiki exists in the Ramayana doesn’t the author exist in the book? yeah see there are different kinds of books if it’s an autobiography obviously the author has to be there in the book the author has to be there throughout the book but if it’s a history then if the author was a character in the period of history being depicted the author will be there in the book but if it is either a history in which the author was not the author did not exist say if somebody is writing a history of the 18th century and they are writing in the 21st century now then obviously they can’t be there in the book if somebody is writing a fiction then they can’t be there in that book so it depends on what kind of book we are writing and now specifically the point of the example of a book which I gave over here is different the context is different from that context over there the context there is that Valmiki how did he know about the Ramayana? because Valmiki was contemporaneous so Valmiki was there and Valmiki interacted with Ram also so in a sense that storyline has Valmiki as a character over there and when we say that God exists outside time and space Krishna coming in the Mahabharata or Krishna coming in the Bhagavad Gita see one of the principles of the Bhakti tradition is that although God exists outside time and space that does not mean that he is forced to always exist outside time and space from outside the fabric of time and space he can also enter into this fabric and that is the whole concept of Avatar Avatar means one who descends from a higher level to this level so although God is infinite he comes within this finite realm he comes with a finite form so that if we say that God is omnipotent and we say God is infinite so he cannot come in this world well then how is he omnipotent? he is omnipotent and he can manifest in this world also so Krishna was on the lap of Mother Yashoda but when she asked him to open his mouth he showed the whole universe so although he is within the universe still the universe is within him that is his extraordinary ability so God can manifest within the fabric of time and space but that does not mean that he belongs within that time and space, within that fabric he manifests over there and he becomes unmanifest over there and he has his self existence beyond this world eternally thank you good question