Comments on: What Happens When An Unreliable Character Pops Into Your Head?

By: Jeanne Felfe

Jeanne Felfe — Sun, 24 Dec 2017 19:28:45 +0000

I’m delighted you followed your instinct. I struggle with the idea of having a specific genre as my “brand” because I write thw characters and stories that come to me.

I am currently writing the story of a 14 year old Somali Muslim refugee. I was told by an agent that since I am none of those things I’d never sell it. The idea of putting Cadey in a drawer and forgetting about her is something I simply can not do.

By: Susan Policoff

Susan Policoff — Sat, 23 Dec 2017 21:33:07 +0000

In my experience, any character that is that strongly in your head, talking and talking, is yours to write and the whole idea of writing only what you are ‘branded’ to write drives me nuts. I get that it’s probably easier to sell that way, but not necessarily to be the best you can write. I have written a male protagonist in connected short stories because he won’t shut up and while I haven’t published a book of them, the various stories have been among my strongest, and one won a minor prize from a magazine. Don’t ignore the voices that are strongest in your head!

By: Kim Cano

Kim Cano — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 19:40:17 +0000

Good luck with Best Day Ever. Hope it sells a ton.

One of my favorite novels is called When You Were Older by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It also has a male protagonist written by a woman.