“A story is finished when the mystery of the character has been revealed. That’s what Flannery O’Connor wrote at least, and she tends to get it right. And no mystery can be revealed if the character isn’t challenged to come to terms with what makes her alive: the desires that get her up in the morning in the first place, whether she understands them or not.”

— Michelle Hoover, in The Duplicity of A Character’s Desire, Writer Unboxed, 3/20/16

(Illustration: pastel on garnet paper, by Leslie)