Cynthia Harrison
Novelist
Tag: Characters
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Writing Native American Characters
There’s an author interview I read every Sunday in the New York Times Book Review. It’s a pretty much set in stone list of questions. One question, about what these writers read, gives me glimpses into writing practices of wildly successful writers. All writers read widely in several genres. They have their quirky likes and…
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How To Color a Character
When I first started sending my novels around to publishers and agents, I often heard that my main character was not very fun/nice/likable. “He’s no hero” and “she’s got too many issues” were typical comments. This perplexed me for a number of reasons. I liked my characters, for one. They were human and real to…
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Belinda
It’s a book. Rose’s mom has a name, Belinda, and a voice. Dad’s hanging out in the background waiting for his turn, and not very patiently, either. Belinda is not my mom. She’s got a piece of me I can build the character on, which is how I like it. I even think I have the 70s figured out.…
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Writer’s Holiday
“I’ve started to write it. I’ve been thinking about it so much that I felt I’d burst if I didn’t. I write it in the early mornings…” That’s from Marian Keyes The Other Side of the Story, the second novel about novelists I’ve read in four days. While resting up from finishing the latest WIP, I’m…
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Present With Compassion
Leafing through a catalog by Shambhala Publications this morning, I came across the phase “Be Present With Compassion” and jotted it on an index card for my corkboard. It’s the way I want to live what’s left of my life. I just paged through the catalog again to see who said it so I could give proper attribution,…