Episode 089 - The "Both-ness" of Compelling Characters with Ben Winters

In this week's episode of The Indy Author Podcast, author Ben H. Winters discusses the "both-ness" of compelling characters. We talk about how he used the concept of “both-ness” in his own books, including THE QUIET BOY, UNDERGROUND AIRLINES, and THE LAST POLICEMAN, and how other authors have—or haven’t—used it in some of his favorite books, including THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH and STRANGERS ON A TRAIN. We talk about the importance of recognizing “both-ness” in people not only in books but in real life. And we talk about “other-ness,” and how to portray characters who are not only separated in some way from the rest of the world they live in, but sometimes even from ourselves.

Ben H. Winters is the author of the novels THE QUIET BOY, GOLDEN STATE, the New York Times bestselling UNDERGROUND AIRLINES, THE LAST POLICEMAN and its two sequels; the horror novel BEDBUGS; and several works for young readers. His first novel SENSE AND SENSIBILITY AND SEA MONSTERS was also a Times bestseller. Ben has won the Edgar Award for mystery writing, the Philip K. Dick award in science fiction, the Sidewise Award for alternate history, and France’s Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire. His writing has appeared in Slate and in the New York Times Book Review. He also writes for film and television and was a producer on the FX show LEGION. He lives in LA with his family.