When I'm writing novels it's always character, because the plot evolves out of the personality. No, it's just something like a knack, it's not something you can cultivate. It's where I'm from, where I grew up and spent my formative years. It's kind of a blue collar outer-borough background. And the issue of race.
Race is something that'sa perpetual sore spot.
Of course, you're always anxious not to do something stereotypical. Maybe that's why I do all the hang time, too. The only thing that is problematic for me is if I feel like I can't do an honorable job of creating characters. They're obviously not me. In the process of writing, I'm just basically absorbed by the story I want to tell.