---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: An attempt to write nothing but…"
description: "\"An attempt to write nothing but characterization will soon bog down; I for one don't want to have somebody tell me about someone else.\" — Daniel Keys M..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/daniel-keys-moran-15612_bogs_an-attempt-to-write-nothing-but-characte_2655890.jpg"
---

#  An attempt to write nothing but characterization will soon…

![“An attempt to write nothing but characterization will soon bog down; I for one don't want to have somebody tell me about someone else.” quote by Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/daniel-keys-moran-15612_bogs_an-attempt-to-write-nothing-but-characte_2655890.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/daniel-keys-moran-15612_bogs_an-attempt-to-write-nothing-but-characte_2655890.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/daniel-keys-moran-15612_bogs_an-attempt-to-write-nothing-but-characte_2655890.jpg)

> “An attempt to write nothing but characterization will soon bog down; I for one don't want to have somebody tell me about someone else.”

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The author warns that over‑emphasis on character description can stall narrative progress, preferring action over exposition.

**In simple terms:** Too much character detail slows storytelling.

Key Takeaway

Balance character depth with plot movement.

Themes

storytelling character development pace

Mood

reflective analytical

Type

literary educational

When to use this quote

- novel writing
- screenwriting
- creative workshops

Key Concepts

narrative focus exposition vs. action

Questions to Reflect On

- When does character detail enhance a story?
- How much description is enough?

A Different Perspective

Readers may feel disconnected if characters are under‑developed.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Characterization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/characterization/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/)

## Related quotes

> [Everytime I trust somebody, they tell me why I shouldn't !!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/senoraroy/everytime-i-trust-somebody-they-tell-me-why-i-shouldn-t/)

Senoraroy

> [Sometimes I don't even know what to name a song when I get done with it, and I'll let somebody else tell me what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justin-timberlake/sometimes-i-don-t-even-know-what-to-name-a-song-when-i-get-done-with/)

[Justin Timberlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justin-timberlake/)

> [A friend is somebody you could tell all about yourself and they still love you just as much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teady/a-friend-is-somebody-you-could-tell-all-about-yourself-and-they-still/)

$Teady

> [Don't ever let somebody tell you...you can't do something. Not even me. All right?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/don-t-ever-let-somebody-tell-you-you-can-t-do-something-not-even-me/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“Somebody (not me) should tell them, when you act like you think you’re cute, you’re not. We”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/courtney-c-stevens/somebody-not-me-should-tell-them-when-you-act-like-you-think-you-re/)

[Courtney C. Stevens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/courtney-c-stevens/)

> [I've wanted somebody to tell me this for quite some time…………..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-ve-wanted-somebody-to-tell-me-this-for-quite-some-time/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [I learned from my dad and my mom somebody should only have to tell you once. Whether it's me getting in trouble, they said…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mookie-betts/i-learned-from-my-dad-and-my-mom-somebody-should-only-have-to-tell/)

[Mookie Betts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mookie-betts/)

> [Somebody please tell him who the F I is .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicki-minaj/somebody-please-tell-him-who-the-f-i-is/)

[Nicki Minaj](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicki-minaj/)

> [“It's one thing to think you're worthless, and quite another for somebody else to tell you that you are.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-echols/it-s-one-thing-to-think-you-re-worthless-and-quite-another-for/)

[Jennifer Echols](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-echols/)

> [Yes I did, yes I did, somebody please tell him who the F I is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicki-minaj/yes-i-did-yes-i-did-somebody-please-tell-him-who-the-f-i-is/)

[Nicki Minaj](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicki-minaj/)

> [Somebody tell my fam I got a gambling problem.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludacris/somebody-tell-my-fam-i-got-a-gambling-problem/)

[Ludacris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludacris/)

> [I will never wrap my head around how somebody can tell you to act one way but then completely do the opposite themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-will-never-wrap-my-head-around-how-somebody-can-tell-you-to-act-one/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [Somebody tell me, who am I/ What: Do not know / even I do not know: Who am I, then what you will know stupid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pagla-kahin-ka/somebody-tell-me-who-am-i-what-do-not-know-even-i-do-not-know-who-am/)

Pagla\_Kahin\_Ka

> [If you love somebody, tell them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rod-mckuen/if-you-love-somebody-tell-them/)

[Rod McKuen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rod-mckuen/)

> [“Can somebody tell me what the fucks going on before I lose my shit all over this fucking room?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-ward/can-somebody-tell-me-what-the-fucks-going-on-before-i-lose-my-shit/)

[J.R. Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-ward/)

## More by Daniel Keys Moran

> [The most interesting thing about the idea of money is that it makes it possible to measure something in previous ages we couldn't be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/the-most-interesting-thing-about-the-idea-of-money-is-that-it-makes/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [“Downsiders," said the clown, "never look up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/downsiders-said-the-clown-never-look-up/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [Police do not belong in war zones.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/police-do-not-belong-in-war-zones/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [“You can read my mind if you like.” Trent stopped in sudden realization. “My God. You can read my mind. You may,” he said…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/you-can-read-my-mind-if-you-like-trent-stopped-in-sudden-realization/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [There are, believe it or not, good politicians.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/there-are-believe-it-or-not-good-politicians/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [“AND NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU FAIL, WHILE LIFE REMAINS YOU CAN ALWAYS GIVE YOURSELF ANOTHER CHANCE EVEN IF NO ONE ELSE WILL;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/and-no-matter-how-many-times-you-fail-while-life-remains-you-can/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [Well, the future of the Internet is... Reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/well-the-future-of-the-internet-is-reality/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [The federal debt in this country is principally of Republican design.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/the-federal-debt-in-this-country-is-principally-of-republican-design/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [“NEVER HURT ANYONE YOU DON’T HAVE TO; NEVER TAKE ANY SHIT FROM ANYONE. WHEN YOU ARE READY TO DIE RATHER THAN BE PUSHED, PEOPLE…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/never-hurt-anyone-you-don-t-have-to-never-take-any-shit-from-anyone/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [The reason Ronald Reagan gets slammed for having so badly exacerbated the problem of deficit spending is that he so plainly deserves it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/the-reason-ronald-reagan-gets-slammed-for-having-so-badly-exacerbated/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [As a fiscal conservative, I think that our government should pay for itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/as-a-fiscal-conservative-i-think-that-our-government-should-pay-for/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [I'm a liberal where children are concerned, a libertarian where adults are concerned - and thinking very seriously about running for the House of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/i-m-a-liberal-where-children-are-concerned-a-libertarian-where-adults/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [What the power structure is afraid of is that we're going to learn to recognize the truth when we hear it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/what-the-power-structure-is-afraid-of-is-that-we-re-going-to-learn-to/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [“The Crystal Wind is the Storm, and the Storm is Data, and the Data is Life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/the-crystal-wind-is-the-storm-and-the-storm-is-data-and-the-data-is/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

> [“There are a great many women in the world. But in your entire life you only get a few friends.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/there-are-a-great-many-women-in-the-world-but-in-your-entire-life-you/)

[Daniel Keys Moran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

[Explore all 42 Daniel Keys Moran quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/)

## More Bogs quotes

> [fear has always been a diminisher of life. Whether bred in the bogs of superstition or clothed in the brocades of dogma and ritual,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/fear-has-always-been-a-diminisher-of-life-whether-bred-in-the-bogs-of/)

[Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/)

> [And also, one is a mother in order to understand the inexplicable. One is a mother to lighten the darkness. One is a mother…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mariama-b/and-also-one-is-a-mother-in-order-to-understand-the-inexplicable-one/)

[Mariama Bâ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mariama-b/)

> [I grew up having to piss in a bucket ’cos there was no indoor shitter, and now I have these computerised Japanese super-loo things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ozzy-osbourne/i-grew-up-having-to-piss-in-a-bucket-cos-there-was-no-indoor-shitter/)

[Ozzy Osbourne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ozzy-osbourne/)

> [She gazed toward the marsh that grew thicker, deeper, greener with approaching summer. Mosquitoes whined in there, breeding in the dark water. Alligators slid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nora-roberts/she-gazed-toward-the-marsh-that-grew-thicker-deeper-greener-with/)

[Nora Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nora-roberts/)

> [Candidates have been telling you that if elected they would 'pull you from this bog hole of financial misery.' Now is a good chance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-rogers/candidates-have-been-telling-you-that-if-elected-they-would-pull-you/)

[Will Rogers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-rogers/)

> [As far as I'm concerned, it's a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hunter-s-thompson/as-far-as-i-m-concerned-it-s-a-damned-shame-that-a-field-as/)

[Hunter S. Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hunter-s-thompson/)

> [Planet Bog - Pools of toxic chemicals bubble under a choking atmosphere of poisonous gases... but aside from that, it's not much like Earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-watterson/planet-bog-pools-of-toxic-chemicals-bubble-under-a-choking-atmosphere/)

[Bill Watterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-watterson/)

> [To love a swamp, however, is to love what is muted and marginal, what exists in the shadows, what shoulders its way out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-hurd/to-love-a-swamp-however-is-to-love-what-is-muted-and-marginal-what/)

[Barbara Hurd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-hurd/)

> [Deathlessness should be arrived at in a... haphazard fashion. Loving fame as much as any man, we shall carve our initials in the shell…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/deathlessness-should-be-arrived-at-in-a-haphazard-fashion-loving-fame/)

[E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/)

> [Quiet descended, a silence so consuming that even the drafty corridors ceased whistling. Bog wasn't certain where to look, so he solved the problem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-lee-martinez/quiet-descended-a-silence-so-consuming-that-even-the-drafty-corridors/)

[A. Lee Martinez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-lee-martinez/)

> [They best pass over the world who trip over it quickly; for it is but a bog. If we stop, we sink.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-i/they-best-pass-over-the-world-who-trip-over-it-quickly-for-it-is-but/)

[Elizabeth I](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-i/)

> [A creative force that either creates itself or arises from nothing, and which is a causa sui (its own cause), exactly resembles Baron Munchhausen,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-buchner/a-creative-force-that-either-creates-itself-or-arises-from-nothing/)

[Ludwig Buchner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-buchner/)

> [And feel by turns the bitter change Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/and-feel-by-turns-the-bitter-change-of-fierce-extremes-extremes-by/)

[John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/)

> [It is in vain to dream of a wildness distant from ourselves. There is none such. It is the bog in our brains and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/it-is-in-vain-to-dream-of-a-wildness-distant-from-ourselves-there-is/)

[Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/)

> [ \[ Age Of Trump\] was something that I really wanted to do, and I also really wanted it to feel evergreen, so we made… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ava-duvernay/age-of-trump-was-something-that-i-really-wanted-to-do-and-i-also/)

[Ava DuVernay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ava-duvernay/)

Browse all 59 Bogs quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "An attempt to write nothing but characterization will soon bog down; I for one don't want to have somebody tell me about someone else.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Daniel Keys Moran"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/an-attempt-to-write-nothing-but-characterization-will-soon-bog-down-i/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Bogs"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/an-attempt-to-write-nothing-but-characterization-will-soon-bog-down-i/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/daniel-keys-moran-15612_bogs_an-attempt-to-write-nothing-but-characte_2655890.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/daniel-keys-moran-15612_bogs_an-attempt-to-write-nothing-but-characte_2655890.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ed/daniel-keys-moran-15612_bogs_an-attempt-to-write-nothing-but-characte_2655890.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“An attempt to write nothing but characterization will soon bog down; I for one don't want to have somebody…” — Daniel Keys Moran",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Daniel Keys Moran",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-keys-moran/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "An attempt to write nothing but...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/an-attempt-to-write-nothing-but-characterization-will-soon-bog-down-i/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-keys-moran/an-attempt-to-write-nothing-but-characterization-will-soon-bog-down-i/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
