A year earlier, on April 13, 1957, at the beginning of his year as the
University of Virginia’s writer-in-residence, William Faulkner answered
the questions of another audience. Here are a couple of excerpts:

William Faulkner: Yes, ma’am.

Unidentified participant: In another class, you stated that you seldom have the plot of your novels worked about before you begin to write, but that they simply develop from a—from a character or an incident. I was wondering if you remember what character or what incident caused you to write Absalom, Absalom!?

William Faulkner: Sutpen.

Unidentified participant: You thought about the character —

William Faulkner: Yes, the—the idea of a man who—who wanted sons and got sons who destroyed him. The—the other characters I had to get out of the attic to tell the story of Sutpen.