Character Quotes

9624 Character quotes by 4950 unique authors

I'm a strong believer in telling stories through a limited but very tight third person point of view. I have used other techniques during my… — George R. R. Martin
When I think about [characters], I like to think of them in their relationships to each other. In the same way, I think that's how… — John Green
I imagine them very clearly and then attempt to describe what I can see. Sometimes I draw them for my own amusement! (talking about her… — Joanne Kathleen Rowling
I can write anywhere. I made up the names of the characters on a sick bag while I was on an airplane. I told this… — Joanne Kathleen Rowling
Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character or advance the action. — Kurt Vonnegut
Creating characters is like throwing together ingredients for a recipe. I take characteristics I like and dislike in real people I know, or know of,… — Cassandra Clare
My characters talk to one another, and when it reaches a certain pitch of excitement I jump out of bed and run and trap them… — Ray Bradbury
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… — Anne Lamott
What must novel dialogue . . . really be and do? It must be pointed, intentional, relevant. It must crystallize situation. It must express character.… — Elizabeth Bowen
Dialogue is the ideal means of showing what is between the characters. It crystallizes relationships. It should, ideally, be so effective as to make analysis… — Elizabeth Bowen
Short of a small range of physical acts-a fight, murder, lovemaking-dialogue is the most vigorous and visible inter-action of which characters in a novel are… — Elizabeth Bowen
Jane Austen, much in advance of her day, was a mistress of the use of the dialogue. She used it as dialogue should be used-to… — Elizabeth Bowen
A writer's voice is not character alone, it is not style alone; it is far more. A writer's voice line the stroke of an artist's… — Patricia Lee Gauch
All characters are based on elements of a writer's personal experience. — Unknown Author
It's dialogue that gives your cast their voices, and is crucial in defining their characters. — Stephen King
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… — Anne Lamott
Do remember, though, that unless you're a playwright, the result [dialogue] isn't what you want; it's only an element of what you want. Actors embody… — Ursula K. Le Guin
If you're a fiction writer, though, I can tell you how to let people talk through you. Listen. Just be quiet, and listen. Let the… — Ursula K. Le Guin
Writing has made me rich-not in money but in a couple hundred characters out there, whose pursuits and anguish and triumphs I've shared. I am… — Wright Morris
Writing is rewriting. A writer must learn to deepen characters, trim writing, intensify scenes. To fall in love with the first draft to the point… — Richard North Patterson
Even in dialogue, your own style rules your selection. Do not give yourself a blank check of this kind: 'I'll merely reproduce what I think… — Ayn Rand
To create tension, dialogue needs to be stretched out. That is, characters should not be immediately responsive. — Sol Stein
I don't think there is a single sentence in this whole book [East of Eden] that does not either develop character, carry on the story… — John Steinbeck
Dialogue has to show not only something about the speaker that is its own revelation, but also maybe something about the speaker that he doesn't… — Eudora Welty
Writing fiction is a solitary occupation but not really a lonely one. The writer's head is mobbed with characters, images and language. — Hilma Wolitzer

Who Wrote These Character Quotes

4,950 authors contributed a total of 9,624 Character Quotes, led by these top contributors: