Daniel Keys Moran Quotes

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

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

It always comes down to script and characters.

When it comes to a character, I make sure that it adds to the plot.

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

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.

All fiction is about people, unless it's about rabbits pretending to be people. It's all essentially characters in action, which means characters moving through time and changes taking place, and that's what we call 'the plot'.

My books are character-driven. They're not driven by the story.

I'm more interested in character than events. I've observed that about myself as a writer. I find events, even the most dramatic sort, not to be such fertile ground.

I have to have a character worth caring about. I tend not to start writing books about people I don't have a lot of sympathy for because I'm just going to be with them too long.

In the writers' room, when we talk about each episode, we first talk about the character journey of the episode.

I definitely feel that plot flows from character. I don't believe that you can construct a plot and insert people into it.

I think it is important that you care about the characters, and you are not just waiting for the next action sequence but have a vested interested in what happens to them.

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.

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.

I always devise a background so that it makes what your character goes through logical and keeps up the continuity.

I've dropped myself into straightforward character pieces in order to explore that form and reap its values. But you are sort of restricted visually when your first requirement is to tell a fairly straightforward story.

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

Plot makes the character just as history makes the man.

I used to get stuck trying to find the first sentence of a story, then I realised that it was often because I didn't know what problem a character was facing in the story. As soon as I did, I could have the character trying to do something about it or have the problem whack him between the eyes.

I'm about my characters.

Coming from TV and film, rule number one is that you always service the main character first and foremost. If that's not working, you've got nothing.

Characters are the key to a good book. It took me several novels to comprehend that.

Usually when I'm trying to establish character, I try and find out where they live.

I put heavy emphasis on the characters.