DIANA: “Speaking of Characters, how do you create  a charcater? How much of them is fabricated. Do you ever use traits of people you know and , if so, have you ever gotten in trouble over it?
JEFF: “Every character has some of me or someone I know in it. I think that is unavoidable seeing as my entire concept of reality comes from the people around me, and my experiences. It’s a risk, obviously to write about something that is true and involves friends, but on the other hand my experience in general is that people are flattered to be featured in a story, and curious to see where my fiction departs from the realty they experienced.”

“…In terms of the actual construction: It’s as if I start by dividing my personality in half. The next step is to discover some faults. This helps me predict how the character in question would react in certain circumstances–my rule being that a character has to react according to his or her fault… After a trend is established, I like to break my own rules and let the characters act out of character so that their voice comes out on its own, and the story writes itself.”

"Sidewalk" -London Streets Observed From Bus. Diana Muller