Be generous to your characters; kill them, save them, break their hearts and then heal them. Stuff them with life, histories, emotions, and people they love and once you’ve done that, once they’re bursting at the seams; strip them bare. Find out what they look like–how they stand, talk, move when they have nothing left.  Now put them back together, fill them once more with life, except now leave enough room for the reader to squeeze their own heart and imagination inside. ~ Dinaw Mengestu