“One of the beauties of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is the very delicate and strange relationship between the two main characters.” TwoCharacterGirlStrangeDragonsDelicateTattooMain Characters Author:Stellan Skarsgard
“I should love to do a novel, about one abnormal character seeing present-day life, very ordinary life, yet arresting through it, abnormality, until at the end the reader sees, and with little reluctance, that he is not abnormal at all, and that the main character might as well be himself.” ShouldWellsLittlesEndsCharacterMightNovelSeeingReaderOrdinaryAbnormalPresent DayOrdinary LifeDay LifeReluctanceMain CharactersAbnormalityArresting Author:Patricia Highsmith
“One of my favorite things about 'Star Trek' wasn't just the overt banter but the humor in that show about the relationships between the main characters and their reactions to the situations they would face; there was a lot of comedy in that show without ever breaking its reality.” CharacterShowsRealityFacesStarsSituationComedyMy FavoriteReactionsFavorites ThingsBanterMain Characters Author:J. J. Abrams
“When I'm following what a character does in a book I don't have to think about my own life. Where I am. Why I'm here. My moms and my brother and my old man. I can just think about the character's life and try and figure out what's gonna happen. Plus when you're in a group home you pretty much can't go anywhere, right? But when you read books you almost feel like you're out there in the world. Like you're going on this adventure right with the main character. At least, that's the way I do it. It's actually not that bad. Even if it is mad nerdy.” IfsThinkingMenWorldWayFeelsTryingDoeI CanBookCharacterHomeHappensMy OwnGroupsFiguresAdventureBrotherLike YouMomMadFollowingMy MomMy BrotherPlusOld ManMy Own LifeMain CharactersNerdy Author:Matt de la Pena
“As a hero, you have to play it straight. The audience is going to live through you, so you have to be more neutral. They will be projecting their thoughts and their actions onto the main character.” PlayCharacterActionAudienceHeroMain Characters Author:Dolph Lundgren
“The acting style that has emerged from HD, because of the contrast and how sharp the picture is, it's more neutrally played. The main character is very minamalistic. That's what works in this digital age.” CharacterAgeActingStyleDigitalContrastDigital AgeMain Characters Author:Dolph Lundgren
“To me the interesting main character is never the one without flaws.” CharacterInterestingFlawsMain Characters Author:J. J. Abrams
“Le lecteur, lui non plus, ne voit pas les choses du dehors. Il est dans le labyrinthe aussi. The reader [as well as the main character] does not view the work from outside. He too is in the labyrinth.” WellsDoeCharacterViewsReaderPlusLabyrinthMain Characters Author:Alain Robbe-Grillet
“Most people are middle class. Most people do wish their lives were better than they are. And I think by making my main characters ordinary, average guys, it helps readers identify with their problems. It also helps ground the supernatural events that follow in a recognizable reality and perhaps gives some of my wilder scenarios a little verisimilitude.” PeopleThinkingGivingLittlesCharacterHelpingProblemRealityGuyWishClassMiddleEventsReaderOrdinaryAverageMiddle ClassScenariosMain CharactersWilder Author:Bentley Little
“I saw the main character played by Mads Mikkelsen, and he's amazing. Hannibal had that going for it.” CharacterSawsMain CharactersGoing For It Author:Michael Pitt
“It's not racism per se but the tyranny of normalcy - no: the tyranny of attractive normalcy. Which leads to loveable white models who are supposed to be playing ordinary, adorably flawed professionals just like you and me with their brilliant minority friends (with vastly less camera time) who are surgeons. But it's not just ethnicity. That narrow vision also extends to, say, things like women leads. Women leads have to be good-hearted and nice, with a Slutty Best Friend. The main character can't be slutty. Because that's not attractively normal etc” CharacterWhiteVisionNiceTelevisionLike YouNormalModelsRacismOrdinaryCamerasBe GoodBrilliantTyrannySupposed To BeAttractiveEtcMinoritiesFlawedHeartedSurgeonsEthnicityNormalcyMain CharactersGood Hearted Author:Sandra Tsing Loh
“When I'm writing a script, I don't worry about plot as much as I do about people. I get to know the main characters - what they need, what they want, what they should do. That's what gets the story going. You can't just have action, you've got to find out what the characters want. And then they must grow, they must go somewhere.” PeopleKnowsWantNeedsShouldWritingCharacterStoriesActionGrowsWorryScriptsPlotMain Characters Author:Mel Brooks
“If you're making a movie about the effects of time, you kind of have to engage time as the main character.” IfsKindCharacterEffectsMain Characters Author:Ryan Gosling
“My books are based on emotions, feelings, relationships. In these areas women are experts, so it's not strange that the main characters of my novels are females.” BookCharacterFeelingsEmotionNovelStrangeAreasFemaleExpertsMain CharactersEmotions Feelings Author:Isabel Allende
“I basically drew my own family. My father's name is Homer. My mother's name is Margaret. I have a sister Lisa and another sister Maggie, so I drew all of them. I was going to name the main character Matt, but I didn't think it would go over well in a pitch meeting, so I changed the name to Bart.” ThinkingWellsCharacterMotherFatherNamesMy OwnChangedMeetingsMain CharactersMaggie Author:Matt Groening
“It's also very important to make sure that the main character and the player are completely in synch.” ImportantCharacterPlayerMain Characters Author:Sam Lake
“Hearing the faraway sounds of children at recess makes me understand that I am no longer life's main character.” ChildrenCharacterSoundHearingRecessMain CharactersLonger Life Author:Alec Sulkin
“A lot of the main characters in horror movies are outsiders as well, so that outsider syndrome reverberates within horror fans and geeky collectors. It's kind of a rallying call that brings fans and collectors together who are a little socially retarded, maybe.” WellsKindLittlesCharacterTogetherFansHorrorOutsidersCollectorsSyndromesRetardedMain CharactersRallyingHorror Fans Author:Kirk Hammett
“Introduce your main characters and themes in the first third of your novel. If you are writing a plot-driven genre novel make sure all your major themes/plot elements are introduced in the first third, which you can call the introduction. Develop your themes and characters in your second third, the development. Resolve your themes, mysteries and so on in the final third, the resolution.” IfsWritingFirstsCharacterNovelMysteryDevelopmentElementsMajorsThirdsFinalsDrivenGenreThemePlotResolveResolutionIntroducingIntroductionMain Characters Author:Michael Moorcock
“I abhor crime novels in which the main character can behave however he or she pleases, or do things that normal people do not do, without those actions having social consequences.” PeopleCharacterActionSocialNovelCrimePleaseNormalConsequenceBehaveMain CharactersCrime Novels Author:Steig Larsson
“My dad calls me 'Mac' a lot, from 'Mike Tyson's Punch Out' - Little Mac is the main character. I was obsessed. I can still beat Mike Tyson on 'Punch Out.'” LittlesStillsI CanCharacterDadBeatsMy DadObsessedCall MeMikeMacsTysonMain Characters Author:Mayer Hawthorne
“The Big Bang Theory: When geeky scientists can be main characters in a hit prime time series, you know there's hope for the world.” KnowsWorldCharacterBigsTheoryScientistSeriesPrimeBangsMain CharactersPrime Time Author:Neil deGrasse Tyson
“With a film, things constantly have to go up in the story, and you're constantly putting pressure on the main character. It allows to go really deep into what its relationship is.” CharacterStoriesFilmPressureMain CharactersReally Deep Author:Jennifer Lee
“For my second novel, The Apothecary's Daughter, my editor encouraged me to think of another unusual profession for a woman to have. That led to the main character, Lilly Haswell, who finds herself doing the work of an apothecary at a time when it was illegal for women to do so.” ThinkingCharacterNovelDaughterProfessionIllegalEditorsUnusualMain CharactersApothecary Author:Julie Klassen
“It's not most important to communicate myself on stage as it is to be as funny or interesting as I possibly can on stage. I feel more like I'm doing a play whose main character just happens to share my name.” FeelsImportantPlayCharacterHappensNamesInterestingShareStageCommunicateMain Characters Author:Bo Burnham
“I don't think I ever intended specifically to write for the young adult market. It's just that when the idea for City of Bones came to me, I knew the main characters were teenagers. In my mind they were just very clearly the ages they were, which turned out to mean it was a YA novel.” ThinkingWritingMindMeanIdeasCharacterAgeYoungCitiesNovelAdultsYoung AdultBonesTeenagerMain Characters Author:Cassandra Clare
“Probably the only thing that isn't great is the time when I know I'm very close to finishing the actual writing of the story and I'm overcome by this sense of loss. I think it's because I know I won't be "talking" to the main character anymore, it's sort of like what you feel when you know a friend is moving away and you probably won't be seeing her again.” ThinkingKnowsFeelsWritingCharacterStoriesMovingLossTalkingSeeingOvercomingFinishingMain CharactersMoving Away Author:Christopher Paul Curtis
“Once you're imagining being the main character, and you're having the conversations and actually being there, the magic in fiction writing takes over.” WritingCharacterFictionMagicConversationBeing ThereFiction WritingMain Characters Author:Will Hobbs
“By the time a writer comes onto a project (if they're being hired as a contractor) the main character has usually been designed, as that's always done during a project's pitching stage.” IfsDoneCharacterStageProjectsPitchingMain CharactersContractor Author:Rhianna Pratchett
“Generally I wouldn't accept work on projects where I didn't agree with the sensibilities behind the main character.” CharacterBehindsAcceptingProjectsAgreeSensibilityMain Characters Author:Rhianna Pratchett
“Gettting to know your characters is so much more important than plotting. Working out every detail of your story in advance, especially when you don't yet know your main characters, always seems a little too much like playing God. You're working out your characters' lives, their destiny, before they've had a chance to discover who they are and what kind of people they want to be.” PeopleKnowsWantKindLittlesImportantCharacterStoriesSeemsChanceDestinyToo MuchDetailsWork OutMain CharactersPlaying God Author:Alexander Gordon Smith
“My stories usually begin with the characters and some elements of how power (personal, political, magical) functions in the world. The rest develops as I write, and research helps a great deal with that. If you're going to write about an agrarian economy, research agrarian economies. If your main character is starving, then you should know what it means for a malnourished body to break down.” IfsKnowsWorldShouldWritingMeanCharacterHelpingStoriesBodyPoliticalDealsBreakEconomyElementsResearchFunctionBreaking DownStarvingMain Characters Author:Leigh Bardugo
“I wouldn't think of my characters' moralities at all. And I think I identify fully with every main character I've written about and would say that I am them pretty much. So in terms of that I don't think I'm similar to Bret Easton Ellis .” ThinkingCharacterTermWrittenMoralityMain Characters Author:Tao Lin
“If you're writing a book that takes place in New York in the moment, you can't not write about 9-11; you can't not integrate it. My main character's view is the Statue of Liberty and the Trade Center. It doesn't have to take over, but it has to be acknowledged.” IfsWritingBookMomentsCharacterViewsLibertyNew YorkTradeStatuesWriting A BookIntegratingMain CharactersStatue Of Liberty Author:Richard Price
“Beware 'good' main characters who have a limited repertory of culturally acceptable feelings, while your evil bastards have a full range of vivid, passionate feelings.” CharacterFeelingsEvilPassionateRangeAcceptableVividMain Characters Author:Bill Johnson
“I might spend 100 pages trying to get to know the world I'm writing about: its contours, who are my main characters, what are their relationships to each other, and just trying to get a sense of what and who this book is about. Usually around that point of 100 pages, I start to feel like I'm lost, I have too much material, it's time to start making some choices. It's typically at that point that I sit down and try to make a formal outline and winnow out what's not working and what I'm most interested in, where the story seems to be going.” KnowsWorldFeelsWritingTryingBookCharacterStoriesSeemsMightChoicesLostToo MuchMaterialsPagesDown AndFormalOutlinesMain Characters Author:Michael Chabon
“I do think that in the near future, if it hasn't happened already, people will be able to use technology to design their own novels, perhaps with individuals themselves as the main character. In other words, everything is being individualized and narrowed.” PeopleIfsThinkingCharacterUseAbleIndividualTechnologyNovelHappenedDesignMain Characters Author:Don DeLillo
“In displaying the psychology of your characters, minute particulars are essential. God save us from vague generalizations! Be sure not to discuss your hero's state of mind. Make it clear from his actions. Nor is it necessary to portray many main characters. Let two people be the center of gravity in your story: he and she.” PeopleMindTwoStatesCharacterStoriesActionClearPsychologyMinutesHeroEssentialsState Of MindGravityVagueGeneralizationMain CharactersCenter Of Gravity Author:Anton Chekhov
“I'm always fascinated by losers. Also, in my "Foucault's Pendulum," the main characters, who are in a way losers, they are more interesting than the winners.” WayCharacterInterestingWinnerLoserFascinatedMain CharactersPendulums Author:Umberto Eco
“Think of every character as a main character. They believe they're the main characters in their stories. No one should just be an obstacle.” ThinkingShouldBelieveCharacterStoriesObstaclesMain Characters Author:Ben Edlund
“All people live in a fantasy in which they are the main character.” PeopleCharacterFantasyMain Characters Author:Keiichi Sigsawa
“I would love to play a main character and then play different characters as well. I would want for it to be a sitcom, multicamera, audience - that's definitely a dream. It's in the works, so... it's closer than everybody thinks it is.” ThinkingWantWellsDifferentPlayCharacterDreamAudienceSitcomDifferent CharactersMain Characters Author:Brandy Norwood
“I moved to the east coast when everybody else was going to the west coast. I (then) chased it back toward the west coast. I built my career up by doing small roles (which led) to principal roles and getting bumped into main character roles.” CharacterCareersRolesBuiltMovedWestEastPrincipalCoastMain CharactersWest CoastEast CoastSmall Roles Author:Drew Waters
“I used my daughter's crayons for each main character. One end of the wallpaper was the beginning of the story, and the other end was the end, and then there was all that middle part, which was the middle.” EndsCharacterStoriesUsedMiddleDaughterMy DaughterMain CharactersCrayon Book:Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five Source: Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-five
“In a film, you always try to have your main character be changed by the end.” TryingEndsCharacterFilmChangedMain Characters Author:Frederic Tcheng
“Danny Boyle has been a huge, has had a huge effect on me. His movies, early movies like Trainspotting and those movies. So I've always loved the energies of those movies. But also, that they are very focused on the characters. Cause it's not only gimmickery, it's not only about visuals. You feel a real need, a love for the main characters. So that's what I've always loved about watching movies myself.” NeedsFeelsHas BeensRealCharacterEnergyCausesEffectsHugeFocusedVisualsMain CharactersTrainspotting Author:Fredrik Bond
“The only way to change the world is to change the main character of our story - the one we believe that we are. If we change the main character, if we respect ourselves, then just like magic, all the secondary characters will change. We can only give what we have, and if we don't respect ourselves, how can we respect others?” IfsWorldWayGivingBelieveCharacterStoriesMagicChanging The WorldRespecting OthersMain Characters Author:Miguel Angel Ruiz
“My problem has been with purely digital films. I feel the danger there is that the kind of short-cuts you end up having to take are the ones that are most telling in the main characters.” FeelsKindHas BeensEndsCharacterProblemFilmCuttingDangerDigitalMain CharactersShort Cuts Author:Rick Heinrichs
“If you're writing a screenplay from scratch, it involves a lot of creation. In this play, I had a strong main character and it involved some creation around him. That's what I like about adapting that particular play because I added some maneuvering space as a scriptwriter to invent my own things.” IfsWritingPlayCharacterStrongMy OwnSpaceCreationParticularInvolvedScratchesScreenplaysAdaptingMain Characters Author:Philippe Falardeau