Thus they in mutual accusation spent The fruitless hours, but neither self-condemning, And of their vain conte¤ s t appeared no end.

-Milton,John
  Paradise Lost (published1667), bk.9, l.1187^9.

I have been told, both in approval and accusation, that I seemto loveall mycharacters.What Idoinwriting of any character istotry toenter intothemind, heart and skinof a human being who is not myself.Whether this happens to be a man ora woman, old or young, with skin blackor white, the primary challenge lies in making the jump itself. It is the act of a writer's imagination that I set most high.

-Welty, Eudora
The Collected Stories of EudoraWelty, preface.