January 1, 2026
On Building Characters
My characters are fictional, but they are built from real voices, observed habits, and the odd contradictions we all carry.
People are rarely one thing for very long.
I want readers to meet people on the page, not symbols. Even difficult characters should have an inner logic, a private tenderness, or a fear they are trying to hide.
If a reader writes to say, I know someone exactly like this person, I count that as a very good day.
Clive