Deborah Eisenberg Quotes

Often, writer's block will occur when I don't understand a character or his/her motivations. So I will make notes analysing characters.

Don't start writing your novel until you know your characters very, very well. What they'd do if they saw somebody shoplifting. What they were like at school. What shoes they wear. Spend days - weeks, months - being them until they thicken up and start to breathe.

Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are.

I try to begin with a strong grasp of my characters. Even if it's schematic, I need it clear in my head who these people are.

As a writer, you have to put yourself in service to the character, get behind their eyes by delineating the world where the character develops. You have to listen to the character and see him inside his certain world to know what conclusions he would draw.

If you can find a way your character moves, you know more about your character than you'd ever dream.

Sense is our helmet, wit is but the plume; The plume exposes, 'tis our helmet saves. Sense is the diamond, weighty, solid, sound; When cut by wit, it casts a brighter beam; Yet, wit apart, it is a diamond still.

You can never know enough about your characters

Spies are great, and when you need 'em, you need 'em. But they are no substitute for insight.

Seek wisdom, not knowledge. Knowledge is of the past, Wisdom is of the future.

We must look a long time before we can see.

I love trying to give some flesh to rather naked bones sometimes. I've always felt it my duty and to try and bring on the character's off-stage life, what happened that is not revealed.

Before I ever begin writing a new story, I have to sketch my characters out on paper. It's part of my process of understanding who they are.

I do figure every angle of a guy I'm acting - but not consciously 'til afterward.

I have a journal, and every character that I play, I write as the character: how I feel about things and how I'm going to play it.

When I prepare for a role, I try to get inside the character's head and understand him.

Early on in the writing, there is often a sentence that pins down a character for me.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who's in tune with what's really going on.

You can't understand a character intellectually, you have to become one with its emotional core.

I think the best thing about my game is my vision. I see things happen before they do.

After a while, the person who knows the character best is you, the actor.

We can all make better decisions when we're informed.

When you're doing a series, you're really in a zone. You're thinking about those characters and their situations in a free-floating way all the time. They live with you all the time. So it's just as natural as breathing to be having ideas and thinking about what they're thinking about.

Insight essentially means being able to see things other people are not able to see. This is the hallmark of leadership.

I think you've got to understand your character and where they're coming from.