No matter who the characters are, you can strip them down and find small universal truths.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
It's more like can I build a group of characters and can I tell some universal truths that feel real and aren't formulaic in the spirit of filmmakers gone by who've told American stories that were personal and universal as well.
I'm not saying that I am all of my characters, but for me to bring a character to life, you've got to be able to find your own truth.
My role is to just tell the highest degree of truth with every character and every story. From there, I have no clue whatsoever how things are going to turn out.
I think, above all, the characters in my novels feel universal to the readers.
Readers embrace all kinds of characters as long as they are written with emotional truth.
If I've got one thing that I really believe about fiction and life, it's that there are no minor characters.
You have to find something there that relates to the characters and reality on some level.
I can't stand characters with contradictory information.
I think one of the things you have to learn if you're going to create believable characters is never to make generalizations about groups of people.
The thing is, even if you're playing sort of a heightened character and playing inside sort of a heightened reality, you can still apply your own truths to those characters.