“The story is the only thing that's important. Everything else will take care of itself. It's like what bowlers say. You hear writers talk about character or theme or mood or mode or tense or person. But bowlers say, if you make the spares, the strikes will take care of themselves. If you can tell a story, everything else becomes possible. But without story, nothing is possible, because nobody wants to hear about your sensitive characters if there's nothing happening in the story. And the same is true with mood. Story is the only thing that's important.” IfsWantWritingPersonsImportantCharacterStoriesCareHappeningsTake CareStrikesMoodThings HappenSensitiveThemeSparesTenseBowlers Author:Stephen King
“There's also something happening in television similar to what happened in the '80s, when people stopped taking so many drugs and wanted to hear real instruments in music again. I think people want plot, story and characters. Those are more important than having a big star.” PeopleThinkingWantImportantRealCharacterStoriesBigsWantedStarsHappenedTelevisionDrugHappeningsInstrumentsPlot80s Author:Jessica Pare
“I love the supporting characters because you get to do more, to be totally honest. It's been sort of a theme with me. In Son of No One, I think I might have seven lines in the entire movie because everything is happening to my character.” ThinkingCharacterMightLinesHonestSonHappeningsSevenTheme Author:Channing Tatum
“Every place is given its character by certain patterns of events that keep on happening there. These patterns of events are locked in with certain geometric patterns in the space. Indeed, each building and each town is ultimately made out of these patterns in the space, and out of nothing else; they are the atoms and molecules from which a building or a town is made.” MadeCharacterCertainGivenSpaceEventsBuildingHappeningsTownsPatternsAtomsLockedMoleculesGeometric Author:Christopher Alexander
“It's tough. We don't have a character-driven show so I think the fans get really frustrated because they don't get to see any consistency in terms of what's happening romantically. We kind of just have to take it with a grain of salt. It shows up where it shows up.” ThinkingKindCharacterShowsTermFansHappeningsToughDrivenSaltGrainFrustratedConsistencyGet RealGrain Of Salt Author:Eva LaRue
“In my books my characters experience things as they are. My books allow youth an honest look at important issues affecting them. As adults we want to believe things like sex abuse or drug use are not happening anymore, or happening less and less, but that's not the case and we need to acknowledge that. We can't make life prettier for youth, but we can arm them.” WantNeedsBelieveLooksImportantBookCharacterUseSexCasesIssuesHonestYouthArmsDrugHappeningsAdultsAbuseAcknowledgeImportant IssuesDrug UseSex Abuse Author:Ellen Hopkins
“I liked the idea that if something horrible was happening to one of the characters in the mental hospital, no one would believe them. The staff would just chalk it up to them being crazy. So it gives me a lot to work with.” IfsGivingBelieveIdeasCharacterCrazyHappeningsGive MeHorribleHospitalsStaffBeing CrazyChalk Author:Michael Rasmussen
“I've just finished a series of Olivia Manning novels. She's best known for two trilogies: Balkan Trilogy and Levant Trilogy. The six novels are continuous and contain the same set of characters. They are based on Manning's experiences in Eastern Europe and Egypt during the Second World War. Each novel is a wonderful picture of the peculiar British expatriate culture and what was happening during the war. She's one of those brilliant women who write very well about domestic relationships. All the books are slim, and it's easy to gallop through them.” WorldWritingWellsTwoBookWarCharacterCultureEasyKnownNovelWonderfulSixHappeningsEuropeSeriesBritishFinishedBrilliantWar Of The WorldsPeculiarEgyptEasternSecond World WarSlimEastern EuropeTrilogiesBalkansOliviaExpatriates Author:Sarah Waters
“Writer's block to me is where you stop because you're afraid to go forward because you're not sure of what really should be happening next and you think, my gosh, if I choose this... you've got a hundred millions of avenues you could possibly go down but it's all an assess of characters.” IfsThinkingShouldCharacterNextMillionsHappeningsHundredBlockNot SureAvenuesWriter's Block Author:Homer Hickam
“That was one of the reasons why I wanted to tell the story of Colin Price. I saw someone in this fictionalized political character that was trying to do something important for his city. He meant well, but then you see that the human flaws had really derailed his past. It seems to be happening more and more in our country. I wanted to hold a mirror up to that.” TryingHumansWellsImportantCountryReasonCharacterStoriesSeemsWantedPastPoliticalCitiesSawsHappeningsMirrorsOur CountryReason WhyFlaws Author:Nicolas Cage
“Whatever happens on the surface, it's leading us in a direction. That beautiful core within us that is our character will make choices that will inevitably leads us to a higher understanding of who we are and why we're here. And it's best to be aware of that while it's happening.” CharacterHappensBeautifulChoicesUnderstandingHigherHappeningsSurfaceCoreWho We AreWhatever Happens Author:Richard Bach
“You try to become the character that you're working with. So for me, I try to block out the cameras and try to trick my mind that this is actually happening.” TryingMindCharacterHappeningsCamerasTricksBlock Author:Bailee Madison
“I find that a lot of my best character stuff and ideas come unwittingly from novels. In scripts, it's a lot about the outward signs of whatever's happening - you have the end result. Whereas in a novel you get a buildup of the whys and wherefores, and you're let into the backstory.” IdeasEndsCharacterStuffResultsNovelHappeningsScriptsEnd ResultsBest Character Author:Alison Pill
“Sometimes I will read the whole script just to see what my character is doing, but I won't touch a script that I'm not in because it's just so much more exciting as a fan to me to watch the show as it's happening.” SometimesWholeCharacterShowsWatchesFansHappeningsExcitingScripts Author:Gabrielle Dennis
“One of the tricks is to have the exposition conveyed in a scene of conflict, so that a character is forced to say things you want the audience to know - as, for example, if he is defending himself against somebody's attack, his words of defense seem Justified even though his words are actually expository words. Something appears to be happening, so the audience believes it is witnessing a scene (which it is), not listening to expository speeches. Humor is another way of getting exposition across.” IfsKnowsWayWantBelieveCharacterSeemsAudienceExampleListeningSceneConflictSpeechHappeningsDefenseTricksJustifiedAnother Way Author:Ernest Lehman
“I don't think I had any idea at the time how to work with someone as masterful as he is. And I don't think at the time I really understood what was happening. I think I was in a space where I was like: there are all these things. I was shooting all these takes with David, and I was just confused, as a person, and as an actor feeling a little too big for my britches and that this thing was happening and then also not having enough skill yet, and technique to know exactly where I was, and know about the character.” ThinkingKnowsLittlesPersonsIdeasEnoughCharacterFeelingsBigsActorsSpaceSkillsHappeningsUnderstoodTechniqueShootingConfused Author:Jake Gyllenhaal
“When you look at a character and you're like, "Wow, that's really unexplored terrain for me and there's a lot happening here and different angles to him," and you're not sure what his motives are, you've got a good shot at working towards something interesting.” LooksDifferentCharacterInterestingHappeningsShotsNot SureMotiveWowAngleTerrainSomething InterestingUnexploredDifferent Angles Author:Hoon Lee
“Not knowing what's happening, from script to script, as an actor and as a character, lends itself to the same tension and anxiety of not knowing what's happening.” CharacterActorsKnowingAnxietyHappeningsScriptsTensionNot Knowing Author:Matthew Davis
“My favorite thing to do is action-driven, emotionally-charged scenes. If it's not just two people talking in a room, but it's on the move and things are happening and it's chaotic, and emotion comes from the characters and from the action, and the fall-out ultimately changes the character relationships, that exactly the kind of stuff I like writing.” PeopleIfsWritingKindTwoCharacterActionMovingFallStuffRoomsEmotionTalkingSceneHappeningsMy FavoriteDrivenThings To DoChaoticFavorites ThingsPeople TalkingStuff I Like Author:Geoff Johns
“We had some ups and downs, creatively, as the season went on, which is true of any show. If you compound that by the production that we go through, in terms of original songwriting and recordings, and all that is happening simultaneously, where we didn't do as good a job, as I hope we do this year, is the arcing of the storylines and the consistency of going in one direction with a character, and continuing in a really interesting way with that arc.” IfsWayYearsCharacterShowsJobsTermInterestingHappeningsSeasonsOriginalsProductionsSongwritingContinuingConsistencyReally InterestingUps & DownsCompoundsArcsOne DirectionStorylineInteresting Ways Author:Robert Greenblatt
“Bill [Condon] is such a great actor's director. He cares about what you're thinking. And, he's very open. Even though he was pressed for time, and he was doing two movies at once, and all this stuff was happening around him, he would still take time to sit there and talk to you about your scene and your character and what you were going through. That was really a treat.” ThinkingStillsTwoCharacterCareActorsStuffSceneDirectorsHappeningsTreatsBillsTake TimeGreat Actors Author:Kellan Lutz
“If something depressing is happening, that's gold. That's the best possible situation you could be in. But if that doesn't happen, you just have to make up stuff - it's more fun because you have more freedom with what you can write about. You can invent characters and situations. It's actually easier.” IfsWritingCharacterHappensFunStuffSituationEasierHappeningsGoldDepressing Author:Eliot Paulina Sumner
“Like all of you I'm angry. I'm angry at what's happening to our nation. Citizens, it's time to take our country back. Bombastic insults wont take it back. Political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers little, won't take it back. All of our problems can be solved. All of our wounds can be healed by a tested leader who is willing to fight for the character of our nation.” LittlesCountryCharacterProblemPoliticalFightingNationsLeaderWillingCitizensPromiseHappeningsAngryWoundsOur CountryInsultRhetoricTestedHealedBombasticPolitical Rhetoric Author:Carly Fiorina
“In fact, I always assumed that most everything I read was true, to one degree or another. I couldn't articulate this fact until after I read Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and he discussed Happening Truth, Story Truth, and Emotional Truth. I always understood that the facts of The Sun Also Rises or On the Road were the facts as dictated by a certain narrative structure, but because the experiences of those characters echoed my own feelings about the world. I knew there was a Happening Truth behind them.” WorldCharacterFactsStoriesFeelingsCertainMy OwnBehindsSunEmotionalTruth IsDegreesHappeningsUnderstoodStructureNarrativeSun Also RisesNarrative StructureTim O Brien Author:Kevin Keck
“I think that inevitably, the trouble our characters go through is a kind of metaphor for what's happening in ourselves.” ThinkingKindCharacterTroubleHappeningsMetaphor Author:Alice Mattison
“I'm such a huge fan of television and what's happening in television, right now. You are able to visit characters and visit a story, week to week, push things in a different way than you can in a film, and you are able to go deeper, simply because you have more time. I'm just excited to do that. It's always good to do new things.” WayDifferentCharacterStoriesAbleFilmWeekFansTelevisionHugeRight NowHappeningsExcitedDeeperDifferent WaysMore TimeNew Things Author:Dakota Fanning
“He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid.” HumansCharacterHuman BeingsAttentionFailureTerribleHappeningsPaidFinestTerrible ThingsSalesman Author:Arthur Miller
“I don't understand labels. I don't need anybody to tell me I'm Latina or black or anything else. I've played characters that were written for Caucasian females, I just want to be given the same consideration as everybody else, and so far that has been happening.” WantNeedsHas BeensCharacterGivenBlackWrittenHappeningsFemaleLabelsConsiderationLatinaCaucasian Author:Zoe Saldana