The Writers Write blog shares 35 quotes about creating characters, taken from some of the top writers in the business. A few of our favorites include:
I realized that if I was going to assume the responsibility of writing about my home, I needed narrative ruthlessness. I couldn’t dull the edges and fall in love with my characters and spare them. Life does not spare us. ― Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones
It is my considered view that no one can invent fictional characters without first having made a lengthy study of people, just as it is impossible for anyone to speak a language that has not been properly mastered. ― Alexandre Dumas fils, La Dame aux Camélias
When writing fiction, you learn to only put things and characters in, that are going to progress your story. There is something to be learned about that approach in real life ― Carl Henegan, Darkness Left Undone
Respect your characters, even the minor ones. In art, as in life, everyone is the hero of their own particular story; it is worth thinking about what your minor characters’ stories are, even though they may intersect only slightly with your protagonist’s. ― Sarah Waters
One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing, you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary character starts thinking or worrying or wondering. ― Chuck Palahniuk
