When writing a novel a writer should create living people people not characters. A character is a caricature.
quote by Ernest Hemingway
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Related quotes
When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.
quote by Ernest Hemingway
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
A Mirror Image
How many times when reading a book,
do we identify with the characters within?
Their traits they have we share,
their loves and heartaches
their lives go through somehow mirror our own.
It’s as if the author was writing about us.
As though he has put us under a microscope
and then writing down everything, he saw.
However, we know this isn’t so
because he or she has written
segments of their own life
and by accident they happen to mirror ours.
Every writer will tell you
that they have their characters under control.
Having written numerous novels,
I know the characters take on a life of their own
and do what they want to do.
We become their instrument as they guide us on our way.
We end up writing what they want us to say.
To every writer his characters are real,
they live, breathe and feel.
The more you write about them,
the more alive they become.
So the next time you pick up a book
and the characters seem real,
they probably are to the author
who looks after them.
24 September 2008
poem by David Harris
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
I really enjoy the writing process because I can do it from my house. I can create these characters and take them in the different directions that I want to take them. You have a lot of freedom as a writer.
quote by Rick Schroder
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!
Character is something you forge for yourself; temperament is something you are born with and can only slightly modify. Some people have easy temperaments and weak characters; others have difficult temperaments and strong characters. We are all prone to confuse the two in assessing people we associate with. Those with easy temperaments and weak characters are more likable than admirable; those with difficult temperaments and strong characters are more admirable than likable. Of course, the optimum for a person is to possess both an easy temperament and a strong character, but this is a rare combination, and few of us are that lucky.
quote by Sydney J. Harris
Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
Vote! | Copy!
Every human being has hundreds of separate people living under his skin. The talent of a writer is his ability to give them their separate names, identities, personalities and have them relate to other characters living with him.
quote by Mel Brooks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Always when I directed the play, I was always trying to cast people not who were necessarily like the characters, but people who I felt had the essential component that the character had, some kind of soul for it.
quote by Patrick Marber
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Paperback Writer
(LennonMcCartney)
Paperback writer
Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book?
It took me years to write, will you take a look?
It's based on a novel by a man named Lear
And I need a job, so I want to be a paperback writer
Paperback writer
It's the dirty story of a dirty man
And his clinging wife doesn't understand
His son is working for the Daily Mail
It's a steady job but he wants to be a paperback writer
Paperback writer
Paperback writer
It's a thousand pages, give or take a few
I'll be writing more in a week or two
I can make it longer if you like the style
I can change it round and I want to be a paperback writer
Paperback writer
If you really like it you can have the rights
It could make a million for you overnight
If you must return it, you can send it here
But I need a break and I want to be a paperback writer
Paperback writer
Paperback writer
Paperback writer, paperback writer
Paperback writer, paperback writer
Paperback writer, paperback writer
Paperback writer, paperback writer (fade out)
song performed by by Paul McCartney
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing is a kind of double living. The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in the mirror which waits always before or behind.
quote by Catherine Drinker Bowen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy! | In Romanian
Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing is a kind of double living The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in that mirror which waits always before or behind.
quote by Catherine Drinker Bowen
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I am writing about people who are alive in the city of New York during mid-20th-century America. And these people are like a character in a play or they are figures in a short story or a novel.
quote by Gay Talese
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
There's a lot about the character. It doesn't always happen, but there are some characters you really create a relationship with, almost as if they were your friend. And you never get into their heads again or think like them.
quote by Salma Hayek
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
The characters can't be wittier than people are in real life. They have to be character witty.
quote by Dylan Moran
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
Writing The Words
I’m writing this at your funeral.
As I watch all the people in tears.
I wish I could join them,
But I know I have to be strong.
I’m writing this on my hand,
No paper to get it down on.
I want to remember your funeral,
So I’m writing this to honour you.
I’m writing the thoughts that pop into my head,
Making sure they are only the best.
I have to remember,
Because I couldn’t live with myself if I ever forgot.
I’m writing this at your funeral,
As people dropp flowers onto your coffin.
I stand up to dropp my own,
Blue, unlike the others, because I know it’s your favourite.
I’m writing this through the ceremony,
Because if I listen to the words I’ll cry.
And I know I can’t, for you,
I have to keep it together.
I’m writing the words I want to say,
To make people remember how much love you gave.
Because I want them to know,
How much of it you gave to me.
So, I’m writing this at your funeral,
To stop myself from shedding a tear.
I’m writing this at your funeral,
So that I never ever forget you.
poem by Rachel Brewer
Submitted by Poetry Lover
Vote! | Copy!
Action, reaction, motivation, emotion, all have to come from the characters. Writing a love scene requires the same elements from the writer as any other.
quote by Nora Roberts
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I find it very hard to sit down and create an idea or especially a new character on command. Usually my characters evolve by accident out of some story context.
quote by John Kricfalusi
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I think it's definitely beneficial for these characters to have good acting voices behind them and it affects the characters in a way that people can feel like they're part of the game and that they know these characters.
quote by Tara Strong
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
quote by Thomas Mann
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
quote by Thomas Mann
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny.
quote by Andre Maurois
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!
I think it's a short story writer's duty, as well as writing well about emotions and characters, to write story.
quote by Eric Brown
Submitted by Lucian Velea
Vote! | Copy!