A lot of thought went into defining this character. In the end I decided: 1) The character had to talk straight. 2) He had to be as tough with the reader as I am with myself. 3) He had to establish authority via his own experience as a writer. This experience had to include enough success to be credible and enough failure to be relatable. 4) The character had to speak to the reader peer to peer. I wanted to talk as if I were addressing myself, both because I wanted to respect the reader and because I believed that this tone was the one that the reader would respect. 5) Toward that end, the
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