Character Quotes - Page 580

Yes. To write a novel is to risk my sanity. The deeper I get into the suffering and conflict of the characters, into the very situations and thoughts and feelings that make the novel worthwhile, the worse I feel, and the more likely I am to be severely depressed when the book is finished. There is no avoiding this: it is the result of attempting to tell all you know, to reach for the stars, to write what matters.

Go where the pleasure is in your writing. Go where the pain is. Write the book you would like to read. Write the book you have been trying to find but have not found. But write. And remember, there are no rules for our profession. Ignore rules. Ignore what I say here if it doesn't help you. Do it your own way. Every writer knows fear and discouragement. Just write.The world is crying for new writing. It is crying for fresh and original voices and new characters and new stories. If you won't write the classics of tomorrow, well, we will not have any.

You have to get it in your brain that you don't belong to yourself as an actor, but that you belong to the director who creates the character.

Over and over I feel as if my characters know who they are, and what happens to them, and where they have been and where they will go, and what they are capable of doing, but they need me to write it down for them because their handwriting is so bad.

Just don't pretend you know more about your characters than they do, because you don't. Stay open to them. It's teatime and all the dolls are at the table. Listen. It's that simple.

Plot springs from character... I've always sort of believed that these people inside me- these characters- know who they are and what they're about and what happens, and they need me to help get it down on paper because they don't type.

Get to know your characters as well as you can let there be something at stake, and then let the chips fall where they may.

You are going to love some of your characters because they are you or some facet of you, and you are going to hate some of your characters for the same reason.

One line of dialogue that rings true reveals character in a way that pages of description can't.

My main problem is that over and over again, I try to get all my characters to say stuff that I think is so witty or erudite you know, so that everybody will go.

Whether or not you agree with Ayn Rand - and I have certain issues with some of her beliefs - the woman can tell a story. I mean, the novel as an art form is just in full florid bloom in 'Atlas Shrugged.' It's an unbelievable story. The characters are so compelling, and what she's saying is mind-expanding.

I want to work with people that frighten me and excite me, and characters that I don't believe I'm the best person for the part but I'm still gonna try anyway. Those are my favorite roles.

When characters are drifting away from the "correct road", or in fact from any road they were supposed to follow, they lose control, they find other goals...and possibly their real selves. All these moments of changes, of self-questioning, are like an engine to the films I make - that's where lie the dynamics I'm interested in as a director.

If you can just actually let the character be for a bit, then you get the right sense.

I love the characters not knowing everything and the reader knowing more than them. There's more mischief in that and more room for seriousness, too.

I think it’s very important to write a demythologized woman character. My characters are flawed. They are no better than they should be.

You can never judge your characters. You have to love them, really care about them. You're never just playing a villain or the crazy lady.

You are playing a character obviously, and everything you are saying is filtered through that person. It is not you that is saying it. It is filtered through a character that doesn’t have your own set of values - so it is not really odd. Inevitably we help each other with a lot of line-learning. Plus there is a familiarity which is quite nice. We have done TV together before.

I love female-driven drama, and those kinds of characters. I really love complex women.

Barack Obama presents as kind of a cool character, and I think that that's his natural personality.

Loss as muse. Loss as character. Loss as life.

Well, the years from 10 to 20, when your body, mind and everything is like changing every five minutes, can be pretty torturing. And most of the interesting characters, I think, are somewhat tortured or torturous. I'm 20 now, so I'm only just an adult.

I was shocked by the reaction I got for Bleak House. It was very intensive but one of the best jobs of my life. It was a chance to play a character that grows and develops and I was very enmeshed in it. But I didn't realise how stylish it was and how much people would love it.

if an author would have us feel a strong degree of compassion, his characters must not be too perfect.

I fall in love with characters when they're out of their element or are uncomfortable and you really feel for them in a knee-jerk sympathetic way.