--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Once he became a series character, I made…" description: "\"Once he became a series character, I made the conscious choice that he would never act like a series character, never wink at the reader, never pull hi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00d/donald-e-westlake-4285_books_once-he-became-a-series-character-i-made_571925.jpg" --- # Once he became a series character, I made the conscious… ![“Once he became a series character, I made the conscious choice that he would never act like a series character, never wink at the reader, never pull his punches. Better for him, better for me.” quote by Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00d/donald-e-westlake-4285_books_once-he-became-a-series-character-i-made_571925.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00d/donald-e-westlake-4285_books_once-he-became-a-series-character-i-made_571925.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/00d/donald-e-westlake-4285_books_once-he-became-a-series-character-i-made_571925.jpg) > “Once he became a series character, I made the conscious choice that he would never act like a series character, never wink at the reader, never pull his punches. Better for him, better for me.” [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) ## 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 deliberately avoids typical genre conventions for a character, aiming for depth and realism over cliché. **In simple terms:** He refuses to make the character a stereotype. Key Takeaway Choose authenticity over formula. Themes authenticity character development genre subversion Mood thoughtful analytical Type literary critical When to use this quote - novel writing - character creation - editorial decisions Key Concepts literary realism authorial intent Questions to Reflect On - How does breaking conventions affect reader engagement? - When is it better to embrace genre norms? A Different Perspective Avoiding tropes can limit audience expectations. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Character Conscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character-conscious-736320/) [Character Wink](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character-wink-4718500/) [Choices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choices/) [Conscious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conscious/) [Like Series](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/like-series-2678607/) [Made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/made/) [Reader](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reader/) [Series](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/series/) [Series Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/series-character-4718499/) ## Related quotes > [ We were all expecting to finish \[Downton Abbey\] after Series 1, actually. And then, it got extended to Series 3, and that's when two… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-bonneville/we-were-all-expecting-to-finish-downton-abbey-after-series-1-actually/) [Hugh Bonneville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-bonneville/) > [Habits are formed, not at one stroke, but gradually and insensibly; so that, unless vigilant care be employed, a great change may come over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-whately/habits-are-formed-not-at-one-stroke-but-gradually-and-insensibly-so/) [Richard Whately](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-whately/) > [But the novels of women were not affected only by the necessarily narrow range of the writer's experience. 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People are like, 'You're on a series right now,' but I'm always like,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldis-hodge/for-some-reason-i-think-that-i-m-not-doing-enough-work-people-are/) [Aldis Hodge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldis-hodge/) > [I'm trying to find a character that's my age and I can sustain week after week. I'd like to do a series.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-devane/i-m-trying-to-find-a-character-that-s-my-age-and-i-can-sustain-week/) [William Devane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-devane/) > [“I read and write for character. If I like and can relate to the characters in a story I can enjoy any kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-de-lint/i-read-and-write-for-character-if-i-like-and-can-relate-to-the/) [Charles de Lint](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-de-lint/) > [“Yeah, I say. Haven't you ever noticed that life is like a series of movies?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-o-russell/yeah-i-say-haven-t-you-ever-noticed-that-life-is-like-a-series-of/) [David O. Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-o-russell/) > [Life is like series each steps you take telles the next scene!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-brown/life-is-like-series-each-steps-you-take-telles-the-next-scene/) [D Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-brown/) > [The first Halloween was very well made. The second one was also well made, though I didn't like it as well as the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-pleasence/the-first-halloween-was-very-well-made-the-second-one-was-also-well/) [Donald Pleasence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-pleasence/) > [What I like most about the series is that the stories deal 75 percent of the time with the problems of Peter Parker, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-hammond/what-i-like-most-about-the-series-is-that-the-stories-deal-75-percent/) [Nicholas Hammond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-hammond/) > [Haven't you ever noticed that life is like a series of movies?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-quick/haven-t-you-ever-noticed-that-life-is-like-a-series-of-movies/) [Matthew Quick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-quick/) > [I don't watch TV that much, but I like to get series on DVD and watch them all back-to-back.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-johannsson/i-don-t-watch-tv-that-much-but-i-like-to-get-series-on-dvd-and-watch/) [Johann Johannsson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-johannsson/) > [Any work of art represents a series of conscious choices on the part of the artist - what color to paint, what note to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-pitts/any-work-of-art-represents-a-series-of-conscious-choices-on-the-part/) [Leonard Pitts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-pitts/) ## More by Donald E. Westlake > [Science fiction is a weird category, because it's the only area of fiction I can think of where the story is not of primary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/science-fiction-is-a-weird-category-because-it-s-the-only-area-of/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [The other thing that I got back then - the Parker novels have never had much of anything to do with race. There have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/the-other-thing-that-i-got-back-then-the-parker-novels-have-never-had/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [I was writing everything. I grew up in Albany, New York, and I was never any farther west than Syracuse, and I wrote Westerns.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/i-was-writing-everything-i-grew-up-in-albany-new-york-and-i-was-never/) [Donald E. 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Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [“Since he’d been born rich into a family that had been a long time rich, he’d never known the need to suppress his feelings,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/since-he-d-been-born-rich-into-a-family-that-had-been-a-long-time/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [“Well, you might not think it to look at me,” Dortmunder told him, “but I got a family crest.” “Have you?” “Yeah. And it’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/well-you-might-not-think-it-to-look-at-me-dortmunder-told-him-but-i/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [“telling the jokes—was the setups. Why were that priest, that rabbi, and that minister walking down that street? Where were they headed? How had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/telling-the-jokes-was-the-setups-why-were-that-priest-that-rabbi-and/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [“Dortmunder followed Kelp as he carried the tray down along the bar past the regulars, where the third was now saying, “The idea of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/dortmunder-followed-kelp-as-he-carried-the-tray-down-along-the-bar/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [Nothing about it interested me. Or about anything else, except making up stories. If literacy weren't so nearly universal, God knows what I'd be.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/nothing-about-it-interested-me-or-about-anything-else-except-making/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [When Stark isn't off sulking somewhere, or whatever he's doing when he won't return my calls, I alternate between the two. That usually works…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/when-stark-isn-t-off-sulking-somewhere-or-whatever-he-s-doing-when-he/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [“There are no Territories to light out for, not in this century. It was no longer easy to become the new you. New or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/there-are-no-territories-to-light-out-for-not-in-this-century-it-was/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [“wish you would.” “Right. When I had the emerald again, I was in a cell. I guess they were afraid the rest of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/wish-you-would-right-when-i-had-the-emerald-again-i-was-in-a-cell-i/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) > [Seem to be telling this, but really telling that. Three-dimensional writing, like three-dimensional chess. Nabokov was the other master of that. You could learn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-e-westlake/seem-to-be-telling-this-but-really-telling-that-three-dimensional/) [Donald E. Westlake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) [Explore all 113 Donald E. Westlake quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-e-westlake/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! 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Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) [Markus Herz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/markus-herz/) > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Once he became a series character, I made the conscious choice that he would never act like a series character, never wink at the reader, never pull his punches. Better for him, better for me.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Donald E. 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