Giants of Empathy

To me, one of the most challenging and fascinating process of writing my book is to give distinct voices to characters that are so different than myself, and to create a setting that I have never stepped foot in. How can I make Luke a more sympathetic character? Or, how can I put Catherine’s lack of courage into words and action? How can I describe life in post-war France in the 1950’s?

I think one of the best gifts of writing comes from the ability to breathe life into your character, and to live as they lived. And as a reader, I think one of the most rewarding experience is to be fully immersed in the life of a particular character in a book – and isn’t this the entrancing experience that writers everyday strive to create?

Arguably, it takes a wealth of imagination and creativity to weave together a fictional character and/or a fictional setting, but I also think that our ability to empathize, to relate to one another – to, put simply, “put ourselves in his or her shoes” – really comes into play when one is writing. And what a good trait it is to strive after – to have more empathy.

So there you have it. Writers should be Giants of Empathy. Is that overly ambitious?