John Irving Quotes

Storytelling is about two things; it's about character and plot.

I'm all about the story. If I like the character and I think the story's entertaining, I'll do it.

The most important aspect of any story, to me, is character.

I think I'm always drawn to a good story.

I think situations are more important than plot and character.

Strangely enough, the first character in Fried Green Tomatoes was the cafe, and the town. I think a place can be as much a character in a novel as the people.

It's always the story that interests me.

Language is the ticket to plot and character, after all, because both are built out of language.

I'm always writing about character first. Plot, such as it is, comes from the characters.

I've just always been very interested in story above all.

Plots are artificial. Does your life have a plot? It has characters. There is a narrative. There's a lot of story, a lot of character. But plot? Eh, no.

I would say 'Flower' had a story. It is told through the environment.

'Jersey' is a very strong story and is driven by emotions.

For me, any story I tackle begins with the human relationships and not the plot.

The characters are the plot. What they do and say and the things that happen to them are, in a sense, what the plot is. You can't take character and plot apart from each other, really.

What is either a picture or a novel that is not character?

Character is half the reason we read. We're excited because of the plot, but we care because of the characters.

I think the best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event, which is to say character-driven.

The inspiration really comes first from the character and the story. That vision of what the story is, and what the character is, the world that they inhabit and what the story wants to tell. That's really what inspires me.

The story is the only thing that's important. Everything else will take care of itself. It's like what bowlers say. You hear writers talk about character or theme or mood or mode or tense or person. But bowlers say, if you make the spares, the strikes will take care of themselves. If you can tell a story, everything else becomes possible. But without story, nothing is possible, because nobody wants to hear about your sensitive characters if there's nothing happening in the story. And the same is true with mood. Story is the only thing that's important.

There's not a lot of direct back story but you do get to see them playing around each other a lot.

Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.

Dialogue is character and character is plot.

If you have no conflict, you have no story. That's number one. That's a rule of novels.

Character is always my driving force. And to tell a good story and to provide an entertaining read.