When I teach, I try to assign writers from whom I can learn.

When I teach, I try to assign writers from whom I can learn.

Susan Rebecca White has a keen sense for how her characters talk and think. An impressive debut.

I tend to listen to my friends and family empathetically, and I try to help work through their problems from the inside. I try to adopt their thinking.

Of course I'd sometimes have characters from downstate living upstate, but it took a while for me to start writing about where I grew up.

I think the second, or outsider's, perspective can come as you layer a story. It's as though you've grabbed a secondary character and asked them, "What do you make of this guy?" and the hope is that the answer surprises you as the writer.

One good thing the teaching has given me is the ability to read and revise my own work.