Quotes About Characters

I always think I know the way a novel will go. I write maps on oversized art pads like the kind I carried around in college when I was earnest about drawing. I need to have some idea of the shape of the novel, where its headed, so that I can proceed with confidence. But the truth is my characters start doing and saying things I don't expect.

The truth is, good actors are always looking to do something different. They are dying to play slightly odder characters or work on movies that aren't straight down the middle.

I think it would be very boring dramatically to have a film where everybody was a lawyer or doctor and had no faults. To me, the most important thing is to be truthful.

Love every role to be new, and I always like to bring a freshness to every character I play, but that comes down to the script. So, it's important that it's a good script with good, truthful characters and truthful subjects.

A good content always allows me to reach the depth of the characters, and thus, the performance looks more relatable and truthful.

The art of transformation is a very important thing to me, and I always believe I can say something more truthful through characters that are further away from me.

When I write fiction, I never try to deliver a message; I just want to tell a story. But I admit that I want the story to be memorable and the characters to touch the reader's heart.

I've played more villains than anything else. And I love playing villains, because I can just be evil and do whatever I want.

I stop and think before I start a new book and ask myself do I really want to spend the next year or two or three with these characters because if I don't, then I shouldn't be writing about them.

Most mainstream male fiction is littered with heroines, and female characters are basically so great, you want to fall in love with them.

People ask me to record their answering machines all the time. I love it. It's a miracle to me that people want to hear back those characters.

I always try to make my characters people, and yet I always want to entertain.

I don't write books for people to be friends with the characters. If you want to find friends, go to a cocktail party.

Actors pull from their own experiences to bring reality to the characters. I wouldn't want to play someone who's a lot like me. There would be no turning it on or off.

I don't think you make fans happy by just replicating frames. What they want to see is that you stayed true to the story, true to the characters and true to the design.

I love sport, so I'd love to do more stories if I can that deal with sport maybe. Other characters, actually the real guy is so interesting why would you want to get anyone to play them?

It's not about finding Mr Right, or that sort of conventional ending, but I do want my characters to have hope - and that's what I do with all my stories.

I play a lot of, maybe a little bit, cartoonish people. I've been a Bond villain, and I play a lot of villains, people who want to take over something.

When I write characters, I need to hear their voice. As soon as I get them speaking, and I feel how they use language, I understand who they are and what they want.

I don't mind what the role is at all; I just want to play cool characters.

I always let the characters guide the stories. They really let me know what they want to say and what action they want to happen.

In real life we want only the best for the people we care about. In fiction, we want things to get the worst for the characters we care about the most, at least on their pathway to the climax.

So I had all the names, three names, and that's good to have on a soap.

I've always said, I prefer the opera to the soap - those extreme characters and circumstances.