--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is a wonderful thing in the process of…" description: "\"It is a wonderful thing in the process of writing when such paper characters are first sketched, and, when one is doing good work, from a certain point..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/gunter-grass-3046_books_it-is-a-wonderful-thing-in-the-process-o_926032.png" --- # It is a wonderful thing in the process of writing when… ![“It is a wonderful thing in the process of writing when such paper characters are first sketched, and, when one is doing good work, from a certain point in time they come alive and start contradicting the author as well.” quote by Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/gunter-grass-3046_books_it-is-a-wonderful-thing-in-the-process-o_926032.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/gunter-grass-3046_books_it-is-a-wonderful-thing-in-the-process-o_926032.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/gunter-grass-3046_books_it-is-a-wonderful-thing-in-the-process-o_926032.png) > “It is a wonderful thing in the process of writing when such paper characters are first sketched, and, when one is doing good work, from a certain point in time they come alive and start contradicting the author as well.” [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. When characters become vivid, they can take on a life of their own, sometimes challenging the author's intentions. **In simple terms:** Characters can become independent and challenge the writer. Key Takeaway Allow characters to evolve naturally. Themes creativity author‑character dynamics writing process Mood reflective inspirational Type literary creative When to use this quote - novel writing - screenwriting - character development - creative workshops Key Concepts literature character agency creative tension Questions to Reflect On - When have your characters surprised you? - How do you balance character autonomy with plot direction? A Different Perspective May cause writer’s block or loss of control over narrative. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Doing good](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doing-good/) [Process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/process/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Work](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/work/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [I talk to myself on paper about my characters - sometimes writing in first person... I keep lists of unanswered questions that I can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phyllis-a-whitney/i-talk-to-myself-on-paper-about-my-characters-sometimes-writing-in/) [Phyllis A. Whitney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phyllis-a-whitney/) > [I spent my life folded between the pages of books. In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahereh-mafi/i-spent-my-life-folded-between-the-pages-of-books-in-the-absence-of-2/) [Tahereh Mafi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahereh-mafi/) > [“In the absence of human relationships I formed bonds with paper characters.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahereh-mafi/in-the-absence-of-human-relationships-i-formed-bonds-with-paper/) [Tahereh Mafi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahereh-mafi/) > [“But if, like a bold painter, you had first sketched in a few audacious strokes the outline of the picture you had in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-t-a-hoffmann-2/but-if-like-a-bold-painter-you-had-first-sketched-in-a-few-audacious/) [E.T.A. Hoffmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-t-a-hoffmann-2/) > [I'm very slow, and I do everything myself. I remember I spent three days to change the size of something I had sketched because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-pierre-jeunet/i-m-very-slow-and-i-do-everything-myself-i-remember-i-spent-three/) [Jean-Pierre Jeunet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-pierre-jeunet/) > [“As she drove away she thought about the flowers she'd sketched for him. Billy buttons. She'd drawn one after the other, bright balls of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holly-ringland/as-she-drove-away-she-thought-about-the-flowers-she-d-sketched-for/) [Holly Ringland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/holly-ringland/) > [About 70 percent of everything is really sketched out on my keyboard beforehand, because I do want accidents to happen in the studio.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-walker/about-70-percent-of-everything-is-really-sketched-out-on-my-keyboard/) [Scott Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-walker/) > [Rohini Mohan read. While she did, I sketched her. She writes with such beauty and violence, and it seemed like the best way to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-crabapple/rohini-mohan-read-while-she-did-i-sketched-her-she-writes-with-such/) [Molly Crabapple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-crabapple/) > [“It just feels like meeting him again was like seeing a blank paper ready to be sketched, a different idea to be drawn.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/basma-salem/it-just-feels-like-meeting-him-again-was-like-seeing-a-blank-paper/) [Basma Salem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/basma-salem/) > [“He was the most astonishing contradiction of components I’d ever encountered. Shy yet fiercely communicative when putting an idea into your head. Vocally astringent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chip-kidd/he-was-the-most-astonishing-contradiction-of-components-i-d-ever/) [Chip Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chip-kidd/) > [I left school at 16 and my mother got me a job as a trainee wine taster. But one day I followed some girls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-mclaren/i-left-school-at-16-and-my-mother-got-me-a-job-as-a-trainee-wine/) [Malcolm Mclaren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-mclaren/) > [I have sketched since a young age, so there's always been an artistic side, a visual side to my personality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-parker/i-have-sketched-since-a-young-age-so-there-s-always-been-an-artistic/) [Mark Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-parker/) > [As if goaded by a kind of frantic despair, I sketched these dirty, ragged little victims of the war with their bruised, lacerated minds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-keane/as-if-goaded-by-a-kind-of-frantic-despair-i-sketched-these-dirty/) [Walter Keane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-keane/) > [“She sketched this moment into her mind, because nothing could be so perfect. Nothing could stay right, and last.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/calia-read/she-sketched-this-moment-into-her-mind-because-nothing-could-be-so/) [Calia Read](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/calia-read/) > [“They are more real than the books on the shelves, books that are sketched with the barest hint of a line here and there,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/they-are-more-real-than-the-books-on-the-shelves-books-that-are/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) ## More by Gunter Grass > [Melancholy has ceased to be an individual phenomenon, an exception. It has become the class privilege of the wage earner, a mass state of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/melancholy-has-ceased-to-be-an-individual-phenomenon-an-exception-it/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [Melancholy and utopia are heads and tails of the same coin.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/melancholy-and-utopia-are-heads-and-tails-of-the-same-coin/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [If work and leisure are soon to be subordinated to this one utopian principle - absolute busyness - then utopia and melancholy will come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/if-work-and-leisure-are-soon-to-be-subordinated-to-this-one-utopian/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [I have often supported Israel, I have often visited the country and want the country to exist and at last find peace with its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/i-have-often-supported-israel-i-have-often-visited-the-country-and/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [Whenever there has been talk of exterminating rats, others, who were not rats, have been exterminated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/whenever-there-has-been-talk-of-exterminating-rats-others-who-were/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [“You can begin a story in the middle and create confusion by striking out boldly, backward and forward. You can be modern, put aside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/you-can-begin-a-story-in-the-middle-and-create-confusion-by-striking/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [There must be reasons why we men are so hipped on breasts as if we'd all been weaned too soon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/there-must-be-reasons-why-we-men-are-so-hipped-on-breasts-as-if-we-d/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [Often I had to imagine the things I needed. I learned very early to read amidst noise. And so I started writing and drawing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/often-i-had-to-imagine-the-things-i-needed-i-learned-very-early-to/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [Art is hard for a puritan to understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/art-is-hard-for-a-puritan-to-understand/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [What does a river like the Vistula carry away with it? Everything that goes to pieces: wood, glass, pencils, pacts ... chairs, bones, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/what-does-a-river-like-the-vistula-carry-away-with-it-everything-that/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [Love That’s it: The cashless commerce. The blanket always too short. The loose connexion. To search behind the horizon. To brush fallen leaves with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/love-that-s-it-the-cashless-commerce-the-blanket-always-too-short-the/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [“They had tried doing it by themselves in her room with a cheap onion, but it wasn't the same. You needed an audience. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/they-had-tried-doing-it-by-themselves-in-her-room-with-a-cheap-onion/) [Günter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [ \[To be an artist,\] this desire to conquer all with images. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/to-be-an-artist-this-desire-to-conquer-all-with-images/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [After the collapse of socialism, capitalism remained without a rival. This unusual situation unleashed its greedy and - above all - its suicidal power.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/after-the-collapse-of-socialism-capitalism-remained-without-a-rival/) [Gunter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) > [“Suppose you're teaching math. You assume that parallel lines meet at infinity. You'll admit that adds up to something like transcendence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/suppose-you-re-teaching-math-you-assume-that-parallel-lines-meet-at/) [Günter Grass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) [Explore all 128 Gunter Grass quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/) ## 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! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. 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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": "It is a wonderful thing in the process of writing when such paper characters are first sketched, and, when one is doing good work, from a certain point in time they come alive and start contradicting the author as well.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gunter Grass" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/it-is-a-wonderful-thing-in-the-process-of-writing-when-such-paper/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/it-is-a-wonderful-thing-in-the-process-of-writing-when-such-paper/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/gunter-grass-3046_books_it-is-a-wonderful-thing-in-the-process-o_926032.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/gunter-grass-3046_books_it-is-a-wonderful-thing-in-the-process-o_926032.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e26/gunter-grass-3046_books_it-is-a-wonderful-thing-in-the-process-o_926032.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is a wonderful thing in the process of writing when such paper characters are first sketched, and, when…” — Gunter Grass", "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": "Gunter Grass", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunter-grass/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "It is a wonderful thing in...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/it-is-a-wonderful-thing-in-the-process-of-writing-when-such-paper/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunter-grass/it-is-a-wonderful-thing-in-the-process-of-writing-when-such-paper/#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 } } ] } ```