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Any fiction writer who assumes that a character is typical no doubt runs the risk of stumbling into cliche and stereotype.

I think all characters are facets of the writer. In a way, they have to be if you're going to write them convincingly.

Every character a writer creates has some of themselves in it somewhere.

Creating characters is like throwing together ingredients for a recipe. I take characteristics I like and dislike in real people I know, or know of, and use them to embellish and define characters.

I sort of like writing about weird characters, I guess.

I don't much believe in the idea of characters. I write with words, that is all. Whether those words are put in the mouth of this or that character does not matter to me.

I write characters. Some of those characters are women.

Stereotypes, they're sensual, cultural weapons. That's the way that we attack people. At an artistic level, stereotypes are terrible writing.

Writing is about culture and should be about everything. That's what makes it what it is.

Writing is a mysterious process, and many ideas come from deep within the imagination, so it's very hard to say how characters come about. Mostly, they just happen.