Amaia Li asked Isabel Allende:

How do you develop your characters? Do you plan them carefully before you start writing or do you "discover" them as you write out the story?

Isabel Allende I don't plan my characters, they sort of walk out of the shadows, as if they had been waiting for me to get started in order to show up. Often, however, during the writing process I need to create a character for a specific purpose. Usually the characters resemble someone that I have known. Sometimes I look for a model because I am afraid of my prejudices. People are complex and contradictory, I don't want to create a characters that is one dimensional. In my crime novel Ripper I looked for a soldier because I don't know anything about the military and I feared I might end up creating some stiff stereotype. I found a Navy SEAL who was willing to talk to me; I went to Washington DC and spent three days with him listening to his stories, looking at pictures, observing his body language, the tone of his voice, his life style, etc. Some readers have told me that Ryan Miller, my fictional Navy SEAL, is the most memorable character in the book.

No tengo planes previos para mis personajes; me parecen que están escondidos en las sombras y aparecen de a poco. A veces, sin embargo, durante el proceso de la escritura tengo que crear un personaje para un propósito determinado. En general los personajes se parecen a alguien que conozco. A veces busco un modelo, porque temo mis propios prejuicios. La gente es compleja y contradictoria, no quiero crear un personaje unidimensional. En mi novela policial El Juego de Ripper busqué a un soldado, porque no sé nada de los militares y temí que podía terminar inventando un estereotipo. Encontré un Navy SEAL que aceptó hablar conmigo. Fui a Washington DC y pasé tres días con él, escuchando sus historias, viendo fotografías, observando su lenguaje corporal, el tono de su voz, su estilo de vida, etc. Algunos lectores me han dicho que Ryan Miller, mi Navy SEAL de ficción, es el personaje más memorable del libro.

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