As the first speaker in the Wesleyan Writer’s Series, Peter Blauner ’82 shared parts of his sixth novel “Slipping Into Darkness” to an audience gathered in Russell House on Wednesday.

Between reading passages from his book, Blauner spoke of wanting to portray characters driven by passion.

“I wanted to get to know my characters like you get to know someone in your life. Like a hall-mate, for example,” Blauner said. “You get to know them the first year, but after two years, you understand how they really work…I really go through a process to break in my characters.”