I'm not sure we can write about characters unless we are compassionate, which means, of course, seeing everything. Being compassionate, I think, means seeing all the sides of a person, all the capabilities, without judgment. If the author begins to judge, then he will begin to ask the reader to judge, too, in the same way. The reader will balk when an agenda is felt. At least, I do.—Elizabeth Cox, interviewed by Sarah Anne Johnson
I am always interested in what information there is from the past that has come to bear as people live their lives forward.—Lee Martin
I don't think we have a clue. Most of my characters generally are, as I believe most people to be, mostly well-meaning within the context of what they can understand.—Lee Smith, interviewed by Susan McInnis
One of the things that literature ought to be about is liberation of perception and consciousness.—Charles Johnson, interviewed by Jennifer Levasseur and Kevin Rabalais
Also in issue 48, you'll find two full-page Focus pieces:
- Idol Worship, by Terrence Cheng
- Using What You Find, by Alice Mattison
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