Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Yona McDonough | Let Her Eat Cake
Author Guest / January 9, 2015

Choosing the professions of my characters is always a lot of fun. I try to pick something I am interested in, so I can write about it with conviction, passion and sincerity.   I would not, say, write about an accountant or a mathematician; for me, math is a major irritant, like getting sand in my eye. That still leaves a lot of fields wide open.  I have written characters that were violinists, ballerinas, children’s book editors, podiatrists, obstetricians, bar owners, interior designers, and architects.  One character owned a bra shop.  Another did not know what she wanted to do, and found her calling in the course of the novel.  What I didn’t know about these fields, I was able to research–a process both invigorating and thrilling because it allows me, however briefly, to slip into someone else’s life. On the deepest level, though, the character’s profession needs to speak for her or his soul, and it is my job as the author to match my understanding of the character’s inner life with a suitable profession.  When I wrote my latest novel, YOU WERE MEANT FOR ME, I had three main characters for which I needed to create professions. I chose…