I like characters who are contradictory.

Invite characters of surprising and moral character, or at least those who grapple with what is right or those who make decisions that shock.

A mentor, a 'teacher,' is like an editor. I absolutely value my editor, who is my teacher.

I like characters who don't change, who don't learn from their mistakes.

All people are paradoxical. No one is easily reducible, so I like characters who have contradictory impulses or shades of ambiguity. It's fun, and it's fun because it's hard.

I think my writing was certainly shaped from having lived in a place like Niverville as well as by the family that I came from, the religion that I had, that type of thing.