Mary Kay Andrews Quotes

I am a firm believer that a good plot makes for a fun enough read, but it's not what binds us. If we don't care about the characters, we won't care - not in a lasting way - about what's happening to them.

My characters are always utterly sympathetic to me, if that makes any sense.

One of the things that happens when you write characters - and maybe this is my own sentimentality - is that I always find I have an instinct to protect them.

If we get caught up in a story, it's because we've started to care about the characters, and that can only happen if we've moved beneath the surface.

One of the things that separates a good genre movie from a bad genre movie, I always think, ironically, is when you care about the people. The dime a dozen ones are where you don't have any awareness of the character.

I like my characters to be ones I think about long after I've finished reading the script.

As a writer, you have to realize that people want to like the characters, so you have to be careful to keep them involved.

It always helps me connect with characters, to think about what music they respond to.

I think I would struggle with any job if it was purely about effects. Even as a viewer, those aren't the kind of things that interest me. I think ultimately you have to be connected to characters and their relationships. Otherwise, it's not drama to me.

I seem to have to make my characters family before I can access their hearts in any way that matters.

I spend a lot of time with my characters.

Whenever people say they didn't like the main character of a book, they mean they didn't like the book. The main character has to be a friend? I don't get that.

If I don't fall in love with my characters, I cannot shoot.

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.

These people are real to me, and situations keep coming up where their emergence feels natural. It's like meeting old friends. I hope readers feel the same way.

When you're building a character, or at least when I'm building a character, you start saying, 'How am I going to make people like him?'

Besides the mistakes that are pointed out, I love the way readers become involved with the characters. When readers start asking about character motivations instead of concentrating on the special effects, it means you're connecting with them on a personal level.

I try to create characters that I am fascinated by on some level or intrigued by or can't stand.

I've always felt, even with sketches, that if you don't care about these people, then it doesn't matter.

The real trick to these movies and making the big action sequences work - and I've forgotten this sometimes and screwed it up - the characters really have to be humanized. Because you can have the greatest special effects in the world, but if you don't care about the people in those effects, there's no impact.

I think, ultimately, if you create characters that people like and can relate to, your characters are grounded on a human level even if your cars are not.

To get a connection to your characters, you have to put them in a situation that you can feel yourself.

I'm focused on finding characters I connect to.

I actually don't know much about Jaclyn Moriarty's process or where her stories come from or who inspired her characters. I just know that reading her books feels like sitting with friends. Her characters feel alive.

Audiences need to engage with characters.