How I Invent Characters

Recently a book reviewer asked for a post on how I go about developing the rather unusual characters that populate my books. I suspect she was looking for process, a step-by-step procure used to develop a cast sure to make readers laugh at one moment then cry the next. Of course, the development of a novel isn’t quite that simple.

How do I invent characters? There’s no easy answer.

Each novel arises in a distinctive fashion. Over the decades I’ve written dozens of books and thrown most away, de...