Characters in novels don’t always do what the writer wants them to do. Sometimes they cause trouble, take on lives of their own, or even work against the writer. It’s not just a problem for inexperienced authors: famed children’s novelist Roald Dahl said he got the main character in his book Matilda so “wrong”that when he’d finished his first version, he threw it away and started again.

Of course it’s not the characters’ fault. The problem lies with the author. Take Stephen King, who admitted that writing working-class characters is more difficult nowadays because his own circumstances have changed. “It is definitely harder,”King said.“When I wrote Carrie many years ago, I was one step away from physical labour.”

This is also true for characters’ ages, added King.“When you have small children, it is easy to write young characters because you observe them and you have them in your life all the time. But your kids grow up, it’s been harder for me to write about this little 12-year-old girl in my new book because my models are gone.”

For other authors, such as Karen Fowler, there’s one quality that can stop a character in its tracks: boredom.“I had particular problems with the main character in my historical novel Sister Noon,”she says.“She had attitudes about race and religion that seemed appropriate to me for her time and class, but they were not attitudes I liked. Eventually I grew quite bored with her. You can write a book about a character you dislike or a character you disagree with, but I don’t think you can write a book about a character who bores you.”

According to Neel Mukherjee, it was Adinath, a character in The Lives of Others, who made him work the hardest.“I think I struggled because it’s difficult to write a character whose most prominent personal feature is weakness, as Adinath’s is, without making that feature define him,”Mukherjee says. But a troublesome character is far from an unwelcome guest, he continues, arguing that “when characters work against the author they come alive and become unpredictable”.

“That is a fantastic thing to happen,”Mukherjee says.“I celebrate it. It is one of the great, lucky gifts given to a writer.”

1.What can we infer about Stephen King’s book Carrie?

A.It was his most difficult book to write.

B.It was the first successful novel King wrote.

C.There were few children featured in the story.

D.Some of its main characters were working class.

2.Why did Karen Fowler have trouble writing the main character in her novel Sister Noon?

A.She disagreed with the character’s attitudes.

B.The age difference between the two was too large.

C.She found the character very uninteresting.

D.The historical setting made accuracy difficult.

3.What does Neel Mukherjee think of his difficult-to-write characters?

A.They are a sign that the story is not realistic.

B.They are often the most interesting.

C.They should be praised by all authors.

D.They need to be researched more thoroughly.

4.In which part of the newspaper would you expect to find the passage?

A. Careers. B. Culture.

C. Entertainment. D. Lifestyle.

How often do you let other people like a bad driver, a rude waiter, or an angry boss, change your mood?

Sixteen years ago I learned a lesson. I got in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver used his brakes, the tires made a loud noise, and at the very last moment our car stopped just 3cm from the back of the other car.

I couldn’t believe it. But then I couldn’t believe what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, turned his head around and he started shouting at us. I couldn’t believe it!

My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. So, I said, “Why did you just do that? This guy could have killed us!” And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck”. He said, “Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of anger and disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they look for a place to dump it. And if you let them, they’ll dump it on you.”

So I started thinking how often I let Garbage Trucks run right over me and how often I take their garbage and spread it to other people.

I began to see Garbage Trucks. I see the load people are carrying. I see them coming to dump it. And like my taxi driver, I don’t take it personally. I just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.

1.What happened to the author on his way to Grand Central Station?

A. He was caught in a traffic jam.

B. He had a fight with his taxi driver.

C. His taxi almost ran into another car.

D. His taxi suddenly got a flat tire.

2.When the author saw his taxi driver smile and wave at the driver of the black car, he_______.

A. got very angry

B. was deeply impressed

C. felt quite disappointed

D. praised him for his manners

3.The underlined part “the load” in the last paragraph probably refers to _______.

A. the bad mood B. poor habits

C. waste materials D. great pressure

4.How did the author learn to deal with Garbage Trucks?

A. Fight back immediately.

B. Call the police for help.

C. Dump it on someone else.

D. Smile and move on.

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