The genealogy of fictional characters can become an obsession, like train-spotting, and should be firmly resisted.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
If you don't have obsessions, don't write. my characters are obsessed.
We writers of series fiction tend to idealize ourselves in our characters, giving them attributes we wish we possessed and ever more interesting lives.
Any fiction writer who assumes that a character is typical no doubt runs the risk of stumbling into cliche and stereotype.
Family tends to be one of the recurring themes in my fiction.
I try to trace the connection between the characters and that way a story or plot emerges.
I think, above all, the characters in my novels feel universal to the readers.
I think that if you get too close to the character, if you do too much historical research, you may find yourself defending your view of a character against the author's view, and I think that's terribly dangerous.
If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats.
I have realised just how important it is to readers to feel that fictional stories are based on reality.
Obsession remains the price of creation, and the writer who declines that risk will come up with nothing more creative than 'The Foxes of Harrow' or 'Mrs. Parkington.'