Troubling But Recommended Reading
Rolling Stone is publishing an interview with Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau this week. Newsday.com has an item about it here–
“Bush has created more harm to this country’s standing and security than any president in history,” Trudeau said. “What a shame the world has to suffer the consequences of Dubya not getting enough approval from Dad.”
–and RollingStone.com has a longer excerpt here.
Here’s the part I found troubling:
Some writers regard their fictional characters almost as real people. But you don’t seem very broken up about blowing B.D.’s leg off.
“Well, the terrible truth about writers is, they create characters and then they put them in harm’s way. That’s what drama is about. As a writer, I don’t have an emotional link to the characters. I have to summon them up – I have to pull them out of the toolbox and put ‘em to work. They don’t live in my head.”
Everything he says is the opposite of how I feel about my characters…and I worry that I’d be a better writer if it wasn’t. Then again, I worry that I’d be a better writer if etc, etc, etc…
