We can’t assume that all novelists who create likable characters are likable themselves, but I imagine that Richard Russo is. In this collection of essays, he is warm, funny, and self-deprecating – traits that characterize many of the people in his novels. For example, he tells us about the classmate who seemed destined to become a great writer, getting As in creative writing classes while Russo received Bs. Forty years later, he accused Russo of stealing his “destiny.” In the hands of a less perceptive writer, such a story would be maudlin, but here it’s easy to cheer for the underdog.
Russo, Richard. The Destiny Thief: Essays on Writing, Writers and Life. Vintage Books, 2018, p. 120.