Mark Waid Quotes

I haven't always made the right decisions.

Before 'Wings' came out, I told a few people that at the end of book one, readers should think Laurel made the right choice. Then, at the end of 'Spells,' they should understand why Laurel made the choice she did.

Bad choices make good stories.

I'm a target on and off the court. I've done some things I regret. But being a target is rough.

Bad choices make good stories.

For me, a story always goes out of a mistake. Somebody makes a mistake, and that becomes the story. Probably that explains why my series are kind of dark: because there's a problem to begin with.

I have to accept the trouble I've got into, a lot of it has been either decisions I've made or probably not thought long and hard enough about.

We need the villain sometimes. It makes for an interesting story.

It's a lot harder to write a story that's compelling about identity and sense of self without some villain in the room.

Well, you need the villain. If you don't have a villain, the good guy can stay home.

I do not feel remorse. Everybody makes mistakes in war.

I would say of characters I've created, the one I've felt the most connected to emotionally was Adam Austin from 'The Prophet.' I think it was the connection to the idea that one decision you make innocently enough can have very serious, drastic consequences for someone else's life.

It's funny; I actually made poorer decisions when I sobered up then when I was screwed up.

Whether you're writing a horror show or a James Bond film, I think what bubbles beneath is interesting characterization. The colors that emerge through storytelling is what a dramatist does. There's always got to be something bubbling underneath that will erupt at some point.

I think that's what makes characters interesting - when you paint a person into a corner, and you see what they do to get out of that corner. It's what makes drama drama.

The villain of any story is often the most compelling character.

I think one of the successes of Gladiator is how we manage to turn on a dime the character from one thing to another where you believe he is one thing and he is something very different.

I'm not a god - I do bad things.

I often tell people when you make a mistake, you not only hurt yourself, but you hurt the ones that love you.

It is much more fun to write about villains then heroes. The villains are the ones that think out the scheme, and the heroes just kind of come along for the ride.

When I was younger, I made some decisions that I shouldn't have. And, in hindsight, I've almost always been wrong when I haven't listened to myself.

I love a really good storyline.

I guess none of us like to look back in our lives to a time when we made poor judgments and foolish mistakes.

I don't have to wait until the next morning to regret something I did that was kinda dumb.

I can't think of a story that doesn't have something terrible in it. Otherwise, it's dull. So when I embarked into the world of picture books, my first thought was to do something about the dark.