Harry Mathews Quotes

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

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

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

Our biggest challenge is always story. The story is the ultimate thing you try to tackle.

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

Dialogue is character and character is plot.

I believe that the writer should tell a story. I believe in plot. I believe in creating characters and suspense.

I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.

A story is built on characters and reasons.

Novels usually evolve out of 'character.' Characters generate stories, and the shape of a novel is entirely imagined but should have an aesthetic coherence.

'Junkhearts' is a great story.

You can have the greatest characters in the world and write beautifully, but if nothing's happening, the story falls on its face pretty quickly.

It's really, always, the story and the characters that come first, and the other things are kind of dealt with in time or, in fact, driven by the story.

A short story is one idea; a novel is a whole soup of them.

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

Action should always be about character and story, not a gimmick.

I got a story to tell.

A good story isn't preachy; a good story is always entertaining.

Every scene should be able to answer three questions: "Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?"

Every story would be another story, and unrecognizable if it took up its characters and plot and happened somewhere else ... Fiction depends for its life on place. Place is the crossroads of circumstance, the proving ground of, What happened? Who's here? Who's coming?

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

'Annapurna' is a sort of novel. It's a novel, but a true novel.

There's conflict in every story.

I don't think in terms of optimism and pessimism when writing a story. I am telling a story.

Fans want to see a story with characters, and they want to see a story.