Best reader & character Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“One of my goals is to allow readers to see my characters and the world they inhabit as vividly as possible.”

Author:Ron Rash

“My parents were very supportive and always encouraged us. My father was a gentle, nice man. My mother was quite a colourful character and a keen reader who encouraged me to write.”

Men Writing Character Mother Father Parent Nice Reader Gentle Supportive Colorful Nice Man

Author:Alexander McCall Smith

“I plot as I go. Many novelists write an outline that has almost as many pages as their ultimate book. Others knock out a brief synopsis... Do what is comfortable. If you have to plot out every move your characters make, so be it. Just make sure there is a plausible purpose behind their machinations. A good reader can smell a phony plot a block away.”

Ifs Writing Book Character Moving Purpose Behinds Reader Comfortable Pages Ultimate Smell Block Novelists Plot Outlines Phony Plausible Synopsis

Author:Clive Cussler

“I can tell you that as a writer and as a reader, I regard character as king. Or queen. No matter how riveting the action or interesting the plot twists, if I don't feel like I'm meeting someone who feels real, I'm not going to be compelled to read further.”

Ifs Feels I Can Real Matter Character Action Interesting Reader Kings Regard Meetings Queens Plot Compelled Twists Meeting Someone Plot Twists

Author:Maggie Stiefvater

“The truth is, everything ultimately comes down to the relationship between the reader and the writer and the characters. Does or does not a character address moral being in a universal and important way? If it does, then it's literature.”

Ifs Way Doe Important Character Literature Moral Reader Truth Is Universal Addresses

Author:Whitley Strieber

“Dialogue is the place that books are most alive and forge the most direct connection with readers. It is also where we as writers discover our characters and allow them to become real.”

Book Real Character Alive Reader Direct Connections Dialogue

Author:Laini Taylor

“...But I don't think I'm the only person who is tired of books and movies full of paper-doll characters you don't care about, who have no self-respect and no respect for anybody or any institution....And I don't want to sound preachy or Victorian, but I'm tired of amorality in fiction and in real life. Immorality is a fascinating human dilemma that creates suspense for the readers and tension for the characters, but where is the tension in an amoral situation? When people have no personal code, nothing is threatening and nothing is meaningful.”

“First person allows deeper insight into the protagonist's character. It allows the reader to identify more fully with the protagonist and to share her world quite intimately. So it suits a story focused on one character's personal journey. However, first person shuts out insights into other characters.”

World Firsts Persons Character Stories Journey Share Reader Deeper Insight Focused Suits First Person Protagonists Personal Journey

Author:Juliet Marillier

“If you're writing about a character, if he's a powerful character, unless you give him vulnerability I don't think he'll be as interesting to the reader.”

Ifs Thinking Giving Writing Character Interesting Powerful Reader Vulnerability

Book:Stan Lee's Chakra The Invincible Free Comic Book Day Special 2015

Source: Stan Lee's Chakra The Invincible Free Comic Book Day Special 2015

“When I started, there was more of a cultural assumption that many readers would find gay characters irrelevant or repugnant.”

Character Reader Gay Assumption Irrelevant

Author:Carol Anshaw

“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.”

Should Wells Littles Ends Character Might Novel Seeing Reader Ordinary Abnormal Present Day Ordinary Life Day Life Reluctance Main Characters Abnormality Arresting

Author:Patricia Highsmith

“There are people already sharing eBooks out there, .. and they do it simply because they love books. You don't buy a second copy of a book, cut the spine off, lay each page on a scanner, run that .tif through an OCR (Optical Character Reader), hand edit the resulting output for errors and then post it online if you don't love the book. it can up to 80 hours to turn a printed novel into an eBook. I figure if someone out there is willing to put in 80 hours of work promoting my book, then I'd prefer they do it in a way that gives a better return to me.”

People Ifs Way Giving Book Character Hands Running Turns Hours Novel Cutting Figures Willing Return Reader Pages Lays Errors Posts Online Copies Promoting Printed Edits Spine Output Return To Me

Author:Cory Doctorow

“The National Book Festival is a great way for families and friends to share the creative works of some of America's most-loved authors, .. Readers of all ages can listen to favorite writers speaking about their books, have books autographed, meet many storybook characters and enjoy a day on the National Mall.”

Way Book Character Age America Enjoy Creative Share Reader Family And Friends Festivals Malls Creative Work

Author:Laura Bush

“I think a good writer is a mix of confidence (sure that what they're writing is going to appeal to their readers) and uncertainty (what if all these words are crap?). If you're too confident, you get an attitude that seeps through into your writing, affecting the characters and the story. If you're too uncertain, you'll never finish anything.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Character Stories Attitude Reader Appeals Uncertainty What If Crap Uncertain Good Writers

Author:Charles de Lint

“The only real reason for self-referencing is the fun factor. It's fun for the writer, getting little peeks at what old characters might be up to. And it's fun for readers to spot a familiar face, or pick up on a made-up book title or something from an earlier story. I don't know that it does -- or even should -- contribute to the story in hand being any better than it would have been without it.”

Knows Should Littles Doe Has Beens Made Book Real Self Reason Character Stories Hands Might Faces Fun Reader Picks Familiar Factors Spots Titles Referencing Familiar Faces Book Titles

Author:Charles de Lint

“Full of fun, over-the-top characters and witty prose, with a touch of gay romance that is equally pleasing to straight readers. The Edwin Drood Murders is the perfect mystery for educated, intelligent readers.”

Character Romance Fun Perfect Mystery Reader Gay Murder Intelligent Witty Educated Prose Over The Top

Author:Rhys Bowen

“Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.”

Ifs Character Mines Reader Wit Nerves Gifted Aspire

Book:Essays of Elia

Source: Essays of Elia

“I don't think it is worth explaining how a character's nose or chin looks. It is my feeling that readers will prefer to construct, little by little, their own characterthe author will do well to entrust the reader with this part of the work.”

Thinking Wells Looks Littles Character Feelings Reader Noses Constructs Explaining Chins

Author:Jose Saramago

“As readers, we want not only a strong story, but also characters we can relate to, characters that feel real. We have to find something of ourselves in them. Each character, even those only there to serve the mechanics of the plot, should have a number of layers. The entire world you are stepping into as a reader must feel real. It must have resonance, you must be able to touch the light; smell the smells.”

World Want Feels Should Real Character Stories Light Able Strong Numbers Reader Should Have Smell Relate Plot Layers Mechanic Resonance

Author:Carlos Ruiz Zafon

“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.”

Wells Doe Character Views Reader Plus Labyrinth Main 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.”

People Thinking Giving Littles Character Helping Problem Reality Guy Wish Class Middle Events Reader Ordinary Average Middle Class Scenarios Main Characters Wilder

Author:Bentley Little

“Since the death of Nikola Tesla in 1943, his life has deserved a worthy biography. Bernard Carlson has delivered that in Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, which portrays Tesla as intensely human. . . . Anyone, whether simply an interested reader or a professional historian, engineer, or physicist, will finish Tesla with a deepened understanding of his world, character, and accomplishments.”

World Humans Character Age Understanding Reader Worthy Accomplishment Historian Engineers Biographies Physicist Inventor Electrical Tesla Carlson

Author:Robert Rosenberg

“We were pregnant at the time, and while I was out there I started to realize that if I had a daughter, there would come a day when I would have to apologize to her for my profession. I would have to apologize for the way it treats and speaks to women readers, and the way it treats its female characters.”

Ifs Way Book Character Speak Realizing Reader Daughter Female Treats Profession Comic Pregnant Apologizing Comic Book Female Characters Were Pregnant

Author:Matt Fraction

“It starts with the writing. We have to think of all these characters - we have to treat them all equally. We have to think of them as having an interior life and having motivations. When I'm drawing female characters, I'm looking for that. I'm looking for subtext. I'm looking for ways to make the reader relate to them in a way that goes beyond the pure aesthetic value. You know, just drawing an attractive woman really gets kind of boring after a while.”

“One must be rich in thought and character to owe nothing to books, though preparation is necessary to profitable reading; and the less reading is better than more;--book-struck men are of all readers least wise, however knowing or learned.”

Men Book Character Reading Knowing Rich Wise Reader Preparation Profitable

Book:Tablets

Source: Tablets

“Are my characters copies of people in real life? ... Don't ever believe the stories about authors putting people into novels. That idea is a kind of joke on both authors and readers. All the readers believe that authors do it. All the authors know that it can't be done.”

People Knows Believe Kind Ideas Real Done Character Stories Novel Reader Jokes Real Life Copies

Book:Letters of Ayn Rand

Source: Letters of Ayn Rand

“I remember how surprised I was when my first novel was about to be published and I was informed that I could be sued for anything any one of my characters said. 'But I often don't agree with what they say,' I protested. The lawyer was not interested in the clear distinction I make between my own voice and the voices of my characters. Neither, I have found, are many of my readers.”

Firsts Said Character Remember Found Voice My Own Novel Clear Reader Agree Lawyer Distinction Not Interested

Book:Outlander: Short Stories and Essays

Source: Outlander: Short Stories and Essays

“It is easier for the reader to judge, by a thousand times, than for the writer to invent. The writer must summon his Idea out of nowhere, and his characters out of nothing, and catch words as they fly, and nail them to the page. The reader has something to go by and somewhere to start from, given to him freely and with great generosity by the writer. And still the reader feels free to find fault.”

Feels Stills Book Ideas Character Reading Given Judging Reader Easier Thousand Pages Faults Generosity Nails Book Reading

Author:Fay Weldon

“One of the great things about being involved with comics is that those people are devoted to their characters, writers and artists. The average comic reader isn't casual about their habit.”

People Character Artist Reader Habit Involved Average Great Things Comic Devoted Casual

Author:Charlie Huston

“It's important to me that the reader goes on a ride with the characters, that you set context enough to know, "Okay, here's where we are in the world. Now we're just going to go inside this person's head, this guy's heart, this woman's ambitions and take it down to very, very small scale."”

Knows World Heart Persons Important Enough Character Guy Goes On Reader Ambition Okay Scales This Guy

Author:Don Winslow

“When you write a book, you want to have fidelity to the character. Characters and their emotions guide the structure of the novel. The author is aware that there's a certain amount of information she/he has to provide in order to satisfy the reader, knowing that she/he has set something up that must be paid off, but this payment must be made while maintaining fidelity to the characters.”

Want Writing Made Book Character Certain Order Emotion Novel Knowing Information Reader Amount Paid Structure Guides Maintaining Payment Fidelity Paid Off

Author:David Bezmozgis

“Getting inside your character's head and letting the reader see the world through not just their eyes but their sensibility creates an intimacy that can't be duplicated in any other medium.”

World Character Eye Reader Mediums Intimacy Sensibility

Author:Stewart O'Nan

“There are different types of readers. People draw lines at which three things intersect: the character, the author, and the reader.”

People Different Character Three Lines Type Reader Draws Three Things

Author:David Bezmozgis

“If the would-be writer studies people in their everyday lives and discovers how to make his characters in their quieter moods interesting to his readers, he will have learned far more than he can ever learn from the constant presentation of crises.”

People Ifs Character Would Be Interesting Study Reader Crisis Constant Everyday Mood Everyday Life Presentation

Book:On being an author

Source: On being an author

“Never far from a dining table, the characters in Heather A. Slomski's limpid and elegant debut collection are not given to melodramatics. Civility reigns, voices are not raised, much goes unsaid. But just beneath the sophisticated composure are longing, loss, heartbreak. And how intensely familiar is the table itself, which made this reader suddenly understand how much of our real life takes place there. Heather A. Slomski is truly a fresh voice on the scene, and The Lovers Set Down Their Spoons is that rare thing, a new book as innovative in its design as it is compulsively readable.”

“The writer has to make pleasure for the reader - which, I think, is done by taking one's character's seriously and taking one's readers seriously -don't condescend or try to be tricky. Be a friend to your reader - I'd say that's a pretty good first step.”

Thinking Trying Firsts Done Character Pleasure Steps Reader First Steps Tricky

Author:George Saunders

“The most difficult part of writing a book is not devising a plot which will captivate the reader. It's not developing characters the reader will have strong feelings for or against. It is not finding a setting which will take the reader to a place he or she as never been. It is not the research, whether in fiction or non-fiction. The most difficult task facing a writer is to find the voice in which to tell the story.”

“Fictional characters exist in only two places, neither of which is on the printed page. They exist, first, in the mind of the writer and, second, in the mind of the reader.”

Mind Firsts Two Character Reader Pages Printed Fictional Character

Author:Maren Elwood

“I think the further away you get from completing a book, the more responses you see to it from readers, the more your own tastes and opinions shift and the more you start to see things you could have written differently in the detail, or done differently on the broader scale of plot and character.”

Thinking Book Done Character Opinion Written Reader Taste Response Details Scales Plot Completing

Author:Joe Abercrombie

“Readers embrace all kinds of characters as long as they are written with emotional truth.”

Kind Long Character Written Emotional Reader Embrace All Kinds

Author:David Levithan

“Part of me becomes the characters I'm writing about. I think readers feel like they are there, the way I am, as a result.”

Thinking Way Feels Writing Character Results Reader

Author:Louis Sachar

“The shimmering, lucid tones and silver melancholy of I'll Be Right There give readers a South Korea peopled with citizens fighting for honor and intellectual freedom, and longing for love and solace. Kyung-Sook Shin's characters have unforgettable voices-it's no wonder she has so many fans.”

Giving Character Fighting Voice Wonder Fans Reader Citizens Honor Intellectual Longing South Tone Silver Melancholy Korea Solace Unforgettable South Korea Intellectual Freedom

Author:Susan Straight

“Storytelling is ultimately a creative act of pattern recognition. Through characters, plot and setting, a writer creates places where previously invisible truths become visible. Or the storyteller posits a series of dots that the reader can connect.”

Character Creative Reader Truth Is Series Patterns Invisible Setting Storytelling Settings Recognition Visible Plot Storyteller Dots

Author:Douglas Coupland

“Character development is what I value most as a reader of fiction. If an author can manage to create the sort of characters who feel fully real, who I find myself worrying about while Im walking through the grocery store aisles a week later, that to me is as close to perfection as it gets.”

Ifs Feels Real Character Values Fiction Worry Week Development Reader Walking Perfection Stores Manage Groceries Character Development Aisle Grocery Stores

Author:J. Courtney Sullivan

“In terms of characters I wish I had created - just because I haven't dealt with anything like them - I'm really impressed by characters who can endure over time, whether that be a long series run like a Harry Bosch, or a character who endures over generations and continues to please readers: Sherlock Holmes.”

Long Character Running Wish Term Generations Havens Reader Please Series Endure Impressed Holmes

Author:Michael Koryta

“Character design, like story design, requires a hook to grab the reader’s attention.”

Character Stories Attention Design Reader Hook Character Design

Author:Ted Naifeh

“Youve got to leave the reader with more than just a name and a costume - they need to know who the character is, what theyre like, what kind of attitude they have, what sort of role they play.”

Knows Needs Kind Play Character Names Attitude Roles Reader Costumes

Author:Kurt Busiek

“The poet presents the imagination with images from life and human characters and situations, sets them all in motion and leaves itto the beholder to let these images take his thoughts as far as his mental powers will permit. This is why he is able to engage men of the most differing capabilities, indeed fools and sages together. The philosopher, on the other hand, presents not life itself but the finished thoughts which he has abstracted from it and then demands that the reader should think precisely as, and precisely as far as, he himself thinks. That is why his public is so small.”

“A book is maybe about 350 pages, and the prose allows for readers to get a glimpse into the internal lives of the characters. A screenplay is 120 pages, and it's all dialogue and action. The pacing of films is different, the structure is often different, and the internal lives of the characters must come across through the acting. Movies are just a different experience than reading - so it just depends on what an individual prefers.”

Book Different Character Action Film Reading Individual Acting Depends Reader Pages Structure Dialogue Prose Internals Glimpse Screenplays Pacing Different Experiences

Author:Nicholas Sparks

“My feeling is that it's one of the very few things that comics can do that you really can't do in any other medium. I feel like the reader accepts all of these styles, and after a certain point you can flip the pages and see a character rendered very differently than you saw on an earlier page, and it's not jarring. It suggests things that you can't suggest just in the writing or in the plotting.”

Feels Writing Character Feelings Certain Can Do Accepting Saws Style Reader Pages Mediums Flip

Author:Daniel Clowes

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