Why I Write? Part 2
VI. Building Stories from Real Humanity No character I have ever written is a real person. Every character I have ever written is made from real people. Those two statements are not contradictory. They describe the craft. A novelist should not steal someone's life. Nor should he merely disguise it under another name. Human beings deserve more respect than that. Instead, I believe the writer patiently gathers fragments of humanity until a new person begins to emerge. A gesture from one individual. A voice from another. A memory from childhood. A habit observed years ago. A moral dilemma witnessed in passing. A joke overheard at a restaurant. A newspaper article. A documentary. A conversation in a waiting room. A passage from Scripture. A look exchanged between two strangers. None of these elements alone creates a character. Together, they begin to breathe. The result is someone who never existed, yet feels entirely real. That feeling is important. Readers do not ask whe...
