Turn and Face the Strange

Anonymous, on September 2, 2024 at 1:02 pm said: 

If you could be so kind Betsy, share the key. Mine is stuck in the G D lock.

The key for me was this: editors who turned the book down said that my main character, Amy, didn’t change enough by the end of the book. There is an obsession today of having characters change (and that generally means for the better). It is my deeply held belief that people don’t change all that much. In fact, time reveals who they really are and often they get worse, harden, ossify. My editor said, Amy doesn’t have to change, but she has to learn. That turned the key for me. All the disappointment she experiences needs to impact her, but no she doesn’t get the guy, the job, the rainbows and unicorns. I want to find out who a character is layer by layer; that’s all. That’s enough for me.

Who is your favorite fictional character and why? OR, what did you do on your summer vacation?

Photo: France revisited