Barb Manning
asked
Susan Ward:
What made you decide to lead with the character you did in The Manny? He's such a singularly dislikable character I couldn't stick with the book long enough to get to the "main" relationship.
Susan Ward
One of the central features of my books is to inspire tolerance. Graham Carson is a favorite character among my readers after reading the books in the Sand & Fog Series. I don't always write likeable characters or cookie cutter behavior or formula stories. Additionally, in order to get a 360 view of my characters you need to read all the books in the Saga as they cross over into different storylines and this provides readers a chance to get to know the characters from how others see them often before I introduce them. But I create characterization true to life. The person we see, often is very different internally than who we think they are, just as I am and you are, and pretty much everyone. My own way through my art to say, be less judgemental, intolerant of others in this world we live in. We don't always know what they're going through, what goes on inside them, and what they're life has been. And the whole measure of a character I've built seldom can be known without reading all the books. And in spite of Graham's flaws, vanity, and complexity, I wrote a book about him because I like him. Messy and imperfect and wonderfully him.
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