Robin Hobb Quotes

Audiences want to feel represented, want to be able to empathize with the characters and the stories they are seeing on the screen.

People just love stories.

I think everybody wants to connect. There is nothing worse than feeling disconnected. And stories that really move people and make people care are the ones where they feel some sort of connection.

I think the key is to give the reader characters they not only care about, but identify with, and to never take away all hope.

Readers prefer a world they can relate to.

With 'A Northern Light,' I've already heard from teenage readers, teachers, librarians - it's been so gratifying. It's amazing that you can take something that matters so deeply to you and make it matter to someone else.

When you're watching somebody read your material and they smile and nod, you know you've found that place where your experience and their experience match, even though they aren't the same exact experience.

I love relatable stories.

Once you allow yourself to identify with the people in a story, then you might begin to see yourself in that story even if on the surface it's far removed from your situation.

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

To connect with the characters, you need to connect with the world. If the world feels vaguely familiar, I believe the characters will feel relatable.

I want to earn a reader's capacity to be moved.

When a story is told really well and is real, even if it's not about their own lives, people can apply it to themselves.

With every character, the first thing I want to feel is empathy.

Audiences need to engage with characters.

You have to present characters an audience can relate to.

People relate to my characters and see me in a different way. They identify with me and remember the nuances of my characters.

If people don't connect to Eric Carter's struggles, I'm sure they'll find a character in this series to connect to. That's ultimately what it's about for me.

My concern has always been to write songs that my audience, my fans are able to identify with.

What interests me very much as a writer is the ability for writing to have our lives to be occupied so vividly by others. I think that's what we long for as writers.

Comedy and drama are different sides of the same coin. And the thing about comedy and drama is about likability. It's about character first. It's about story. And for me, it's about empathy, and I think the realer someone is, the further you can go either way with them.

Character, I think, is the single most important thing in fiction. You might read a book once for its interesting plot—but not twice.

You're trying to bring a character to an audience, and tell stories. That's what we're all trying do.

I always want the audience to identify with my character in some way. I mean, sometimes you'll get characters that aren't very identifiable. Sometimes you can't relate to your character at all.

It just seduces you when you read a story and your brain relates to it. You recognize or connect with it. You identify with it; you're bound to.