Characters Quotes

2913 quotes by 2044 authors

Every story would be another story, and unrecognizable if it took up its characters and plot and happened somewhere else ... Fiction depends for its… — Eudora Welty
No one can write a best seller by trying to. He must write with complete sincerity; the clichÃ©s that make you laugh, the hackneyed characters,… — W. Somerset Maugham
Time is what makes good stories. Much has been cooking for a long time, and at last finds an out in narration one day. That's… — Barry Hannah
Dialogue in fiction is what characters do to one another. — Elizabeth Bowen
The test of a round character is whether it is capable of surprising in a convincing way. If it never surprises it is flat. Flat… — E. M. Forster
Characters must not brood too long. They must not waste time running up and down ladders in their own insides. — E. M. Forster
When you describe the miserable and unfortunate, and want to make the reader feel pity, try to be somewhat colder - that seems to give… — Anton Chekhov
The test of any good fiction is that you should care something for the characters; the good to succeed, the bad to fail. The trouble… — Mark Twain
One of my standard - and fairly true - responses to the question as to how story ideas come to me is that story ideas… — Roger Zelazny
I hate outlines. I have a broad sense of where the story is going; I know the end, I know the end of the principal… — George R. R. Martin
I don't like the strictly objective viewpoint [in which all of the characters' actions are described in the third person, but we never hear what… — George R. R. Martin
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
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

Who Wrote These Characters Quotes

2,044 authors contributed a total of 2,913 Characters Quotes, led by these top contributors: