I can't inhabit my characters until I know what kind of work they do. This requires research because my jobs for the last decade have been author and professor, and I'd like to spare the world more author or professor novels.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I'm always determined that as a novelist I'm going to go out there and research my characters very thoroughly before I start writing.
I love novels where not much 'happens' but where the interest is in the ideas and analyses of characters.
I love working fictional characters into a piece of history. It plays to my strengths, which are characterization and dialogue, and assists me in my admitted weakness, plot.
I think of myself as a serious professor who, during the weekend, writes novels.
There are a lot of authors in the world, so it's difficult to find a unique niche to present your take on things. That is always a challenge for any author.
I research the role, and if it's a literary character, I read the book, and if it's an historical figure, I research documents and biographies. If it's a fictional character, I work off the script.
Characters develop as the book progresses, but any that start to bore me end up in the wastepaper basket. In real life, we may have to put up with tedious people, but not in novels.
I try to write about things, places, events, and phenomena I know about personally. That helps make the novels more genuine.
I write the kinds of novels I like to read, where the setting is rendered with love and care.
I'm a novelist, that's how I make my livelihood, and I concentrate on the novels.