As a reader, I'm often put off by authors and story-lines without families or children and all of the angst and joy they bring with them.
I love to feature children and young adults as real people - flawed, naive, virtuous, venal - but real. I think it adds nuance and depth to the stories that wouldn't exist without them.
I do like the research part of writing, I must admit.
I really think more fledgling novelists - and many current and even established novelists - should get out into the real world and cover local politics, sports, culture, and crime and write it up on deadline.
