I finally got enough space from Town business today to work on my novel. And for the first time in two months, the characters started to talk to me. I know the writing is real if I end up at the close of the day in a situation that I could never have predicted at the beginning.
Back when I was learning ethnographic methods, the rule of thumb for when you’d done enough fieldwork was when nobody told you anything you didn’t already know. Once you’re no longer surprised, you know enough about the culture to represent it to others. Fiction writing is much the same. When it works, the people I write about surprise me every day, which means I’m still learning their culture.
I always felt it was an enormous privilege, and deep responsibility, when my research participants entrusted me with their stories. I feel the same when my fiction participants trust me, too.
Herb Childress 