So for this blog post, I turn to honest writing. I think one of the most important things for any writer is to write true to their characters. Eileen, based on her attitudes and outlook on life, has to be blunt. Anything else would let her character down and I think weaken it.
This is where I think interviewing your characters can be a wonderfully helpful aid to finding out about them so you can write honestly for and about them. Questions can vary from your characters' own assessment of their weaknesses and strengths to their tastes in books, music, food and so on. I've also asked my characters about their biggest regrets and tailored other questions to how they felt about the situations I put them in! Other good questions include favourite/earliest memories but the whole point of the interview is for you to really get to know your characters so well you almost have no choice but to write honestly about them.
Honest writing shows, as does a writer who is "holding back", but I've always found the stories and characters that convince me the most are the results of honest writing by the author.