You write intimately of Greenpoint and with rich detail. I relate to all of them because in order to write them into being and bring them to life, I have to enter them, imaginatively, and see through their eyes. I want all of them to be fully drawn, to feel real and complex, even if they're only in the novel for a brief moment. I write intuitively, from the gut: I feel what each of them feels. Each of them is essential I hope none of them feels superfluous. My characters tend to exist in relation to one another, like the cast of a play - I see them as parts of a whole that fit together to make the novel complete. How do you approach creating your characters? Do you identify with one more than another? Were any of them difficult to write? It raises the stakes on his loneliness, confusion, and remorse.Įach character is remarkably drawn and very different. The fact that Harry is a man rather than a woman makes him seem more emotionally vulnerable to me. In my experience, women are emotionally tougher than men, on the whole, and better able to weather personal crises. The story became more poignant and urgent because I wrote it from Harry's perspective than it would have been if I'd chosen his wife, Luz, or his friend, Marion. Therefore he has few illusions and a realistic sense of who and what he is, which makes him a trustworthy guide to his own story. Unlike the other two, Harry has raised children, has had a long marriage, and is old enough to feel washed up in his career.

Each of my three male narrators is different from the others. The Astral is the third novel I've written from a male point of view, so apparently I must enjoy it! Writing from a male perspective is very comfortable for me. What was it like writing from a different gender? You write The Astral from the perspective of a 57-year-old male narrator, Harry Quirk. Reveals the inspiration behind her sexy tragicomedy, Trouble. In two separate interviews, Kate Christensen considers the surprising nature of her characters in The Astral, and she

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