I actually see myself in all my characters. In order to imagine what it feels like to be another person I have to use my own experiences and responses to the world.
Elizabeth StroutI'm writing for my ideal reader, for somebody who's willing to take the time, who's willing to get lost in a new world, who's willing to do their part. But then I have to do my part and give them a sound and a voice that they believe in enough to keep going.
Elizabeth StroutMy first job was when I was about 12, cleaning houses in the afternoons for different elderly women in town. I hated it.
Elizabeth StroutYou couldn't make yourself stop feeling a certain way, no matter what the other person did. You had to just wait. Eventually the feeling went away because others came along. Or sometimes it didn't go away but got squeezed into something tiny, and hung like a piece of tinsel in the back of your mind.
Elizabeth Strout