Richard C. Armitage Quotes

My favorite sci-fi always uses its hook to amplify some bigger theme or idea - some emotional thrust.

I'd rather let the fiction speak for itself and I don't want to write fiction that tells people how to feel, and I don't want to be judgmental in the fiction.

I never have particular actors planned when I'm in the process of writing.

In an essay, you have the outcome in your pocket before you set out on your journey, and very rarely do you make an intellectual or psychological discovery. But when you write fiction, you don't know where you are going - sometimes down to the last paragraph - and that is the pleasure of it.

I don't want to write about violence, and I don't want to hang a plot on a murder. I think it's cheap.

With fiction, you can take something that bothers you, or that you don't have in clear focus, and you can put it under as much stress as you want. Really get underneath the skin. With nonfiction, you're restricted to what happened.

The drama is a great revealer of life.

I'm a fan of characters wherever they come from. Truth be told, I wasn't a big comic book fan growing up. Maybe that helps me bring a fresh perspective to things because I'm not trying to match anything that's been done in the past.

Part of the reason I wanted to write a novel was that in fiction I could do something that's difficult to do in real life, which is to dwell on the stark details of the experience without really needing to create that narrative of redemption.

Good fiction can both entertain and light up those dark corners where nice people don't want to go.

Theater, at the end of the day, is about ideas. It's about very large ideas. And if the play is beautifully written or smartly written and has incredible characters you follow on the journey, you take home these larger ideas. Whether it's 'Angels in America' or 'Lucky Guy' or 'Normal Heart,' you follow this moment-to-moment journey as an audience.

There used to be times when I used to be bothered about box office, director, producer, the actress... If those ticks were marked, I used to say 'yes' to a film. Later on, my focus absolutely changed. Now if a character stays with me for two to three nights, I say 'yes' to the film.

I suppose I'm pulled towards fiction because I really like the freedom it gives me.

I am open to doing comedies, romantic stories, and commercial cinema, but it has to work for me so that I can give a year of my life in making it.

Books are a little better movies than just screenplays because there's more fat on the bone. There's more character development. There's more stuff to pick from.

Writing is so fun precisely because if you take out the right adjective, the readers can decide what kind of book is in their hands. Suspension of disbelief should not be mandatory in contemporary writing.

I think that you don't really want to write a book that doesn't really move people and doesn't get them to think.

When I create a story, I can make it however funny, sad, or happy I want it to be. And when I read, I feel like I'm in the story, and I get to experience it. It feels like I'm watching someone else do something, but I'm doing the thing that the character is doing as well.

I'm really not interested in writing about science at all. I mean, I try to get the information right, the details right. But fiction isn't good at conveying information: It's good at telling stories about people in interesting situations.

Early on, many years ago when we started 'Avatar,' the executive that we were working with said to make the sad scenes sadder, the funny scenes funnier, the scary scenes scarier. That was kind of permission to do what we felt comfortable with.

The characters have their own lives and their own logic, and you have to act accordingly.

Well,the fun part of being a writer is that it's like making a wonderful film, with no limit on my budget. I can design the sets, the costume, the lightings, I write the script, and then I get to perform all the roles as I step into each character's skin, zip up, and adopt that point of view. So, to me, they are all compelling and fascinating.

One of the great pleasures of working in Middle Earth is you get to be another being.

It is only when our characters and events begin to disobey us that they begin to live.

The way I'm doing it is I'm trying to think to myself, "Okay, I have the name Superman, and he's going to be a guy that deserves the name 'Superman.' I'm trying to forget about Krypton, about The Daily Planet what would I do if I was thinking it up?" I can do it any way at all..I can make him an Eskimo midget who's toothless and blind... I can do anything. It's difficult .