Kathryn Stockett Quotes

What I look for in any character, good or bad, is whether I can hear him speak. If I can imagine him that clearly, then I can write about him.

I wouldn't like to be a character in one of my books!

I don't like the way young people write and talk about the old. I don't like their attitude, which, if they weren't young and therefore bright and vibrant, would be called outdated.

The worship of youth has diminished - perhaps generally - in recent years.

Becoming an author changes your attitude too. Once you see where books come from, and how they're made, they never seem quite as sacred again.

A lot can be said with just a look, or the way the body moves. Each song is a different character. So each song takes on a different movement of the body. And the body has to go with the subject and the attitude that you have toward that subject.

Songs of different moods are like keys, which help me enter the world of my book's characters.

See, what I don't like listening to is when writers go, 'And then the person cries.' 'Or the person does this.' It's there, but it's not the Bible. I wait and see what happens to me on the day.

The question of likability is a bit of a puzzler for me. You know, I don't write people with likability in mind. It's more whether or not I find them compelling.

I think the moment you're writing about somebody who's not exactly you, then the challenge is all equal.

I'm not angry; I write about angry characters. When I'm doing that, I'm happy. Just like when I'm writing about Mickey Sabbath being lustful, I'm not feeling lustful; I'm happy.

A lot of elders don't really like me in music because they just think I'm a little cheeky prick and I'm arrogant. I'm definitely cheeky, I'm definitely a prick and I'm definitely arrogant.

I really become the characters when I'm writing them. I'll become one or two of them more than others, I'm consistent that way.

If you want anybody to have a different voice, you really have to visualize and hear the voices of all these people. Sometimes when I write with specific actors in mind, it helps.

I very much write from characters. Those people start speaking, and then I have them in the house with me and I live with them. Then at some point, it's time to get them out of the house. You can only live with someone like Dr. Georgeous Teitelbaum from THE SISTERS ROSENSWEIG for so long, and then it's time for her to go. But it is very like having the company of these people and trying to craft them in some way into a story.

I think because I write so many short stories, it's not that hard to come up with characters that are not me.

I'm not as worried about the process of writing, simply because I think I've got that one down, you know? I think I know what brings specificity to these ideas, what brings specificity to the genre elements, or anything else, and it's personal emotions.

I don't know acting, but I choose good stories and portray emotions according to the story.

When I write, I try to become different characters.

I write in character a lot.

As actors, we have to take characters, and we have to feel for them and ultimately become them, and share that on screen so that audience feels that.

I've just always got on with people older than me for some reason.

If you're 30, 40 years old, you're not getting listened to by minors.

The power with which you can create a character is tremendous and probably more satisfying than actually being the person.

I don't tend to picture my characters as actors and actresses.