Ruth Rendell Quotes

My only conclusion about structure is that nothing works if you don't have interesting characters and a good story to tell.

I have always argued, in a good novel, interesting things happen to interesting people.

If you know exactly what your character knows, it's a drama.

I don't start with the characters. I start with the series of events that will provide the conflict and how it can be resolved. Characters are incidental.

Characters are incredibly important, but I tend to build them around the plot during the outline stage. However, once I'm writing the manuscript, the characters I'm writing dictate how the plot unfolds.

So I work hard to present the human side of my characters while not neglecting the plot.

Keep everything in context, and try to have each line doing more than one thing - not just giving exposition but also revealing character and history, etc.

For me, plot always comes out of character, so I had to be sure of my characters.

One of the ways my first novel failed was that I was too in love with my characters.

Lots of times when I'm offered things, I can't see how a story gets filmed. Either it's too internal or it doesn't have a strong spine.

Producing is figuring out how to make each character have a distinct voice, how to make the story twist and turn - that's the biggest challenge.

For me, 'The Hobbit' is an object lesson in storytelling, both in terms of characterization and story structure. It is an exemplar of storytelling in that regard.

It always comes down to script and characters.

I think my sensibilities about storytelling and character just automatically come into play when I'm trying to work on any kind of narrative. For me, it doesn't really matter what the source of the narrative is. I will be looking for ways to make it into an intriguing story with empathetic characters.

Stories matter to me. I look for a good script, story, and a strong part.

I think all good short stories are about what it means to tell a good story.

I could make up characters till the cows came home. Plot's what hard. Very hard.

If you go wrong in a novel, you can straighten it out in the next chapter. You don't have any room to do that in a novella.

To combine telling an interesting story with brilliantly written characters is the most difficult thing to do.

I don't make unconventional stories; I don't make non-linear stories. I like linear storytelling a lot.

I usually give a book 40 pages. If it doesn't grab me by then, adios. With young adult books, you can usually tell by Page 4 if it's worth the time. The author establishes the conflict early, sometimes in the first sentence. The themes of hope, family, friendship and overcoming hardship appeal to most everyone.

Plot and character are virtually the same thing.

A novel is utterly your own creation, a very private process. I think of a novel as a noun and a screenplay as a verb. In a novel, very little needs to happen; you can explore a person's memories and thoughts and fantasies. In a screenplay, it's all action; you must push the story on.

An attempt to write nothing but characterization will soon bog down; I for one don't want to have somebody tell me about someone else.

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.