Episode 4 from my Writer’s Studio in the Woods series.

Creating interesting characters, ones that meet all the requirements for “roundness” — they must be layered, not wholly bad or good, with goals and challenges that fit the tone of the novel — I’ve been struggling with this on my current project.

I’m having fun with my characters, yet one has been giving me problems all along. It took a while, but I think I’ve finally figured him out. He’s a 13-year-old semi-bully, and I had to settle on a reason for his bad behavior, something that would fit a comic novel without being too trite or heavy-handed. This past week, I found it — but, sorry, I’ll reveal no details here; I’ll say only that it doesn’t involve a fatal illness, ADHD, child abuse or any other issue-of-the-week disorder.

As for my artist residency, I’m astonished to realize I have less than 2 weeks left. Each day begins with a trek through the previous night’s snowfall — enough to make walking a warming activity — to the kitchen for breakfast and tea. Then I shovel off the deck and stairs outside the main building and then head to my little hut. I can’t say I’ve done as much writing as I had hoped, but I know I’ve written more than if I had stayed in NYC.

Time now for second breakfast and then more writing. I’ll add one more post before I leave the Guild, so until then: Happy Christmas!