Jojo Moyes Quotes

As a writer, you have to realize that people want to like the characters, so you have to be careful to keep them involved.

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

I think all television has to be about relationships and I don't think horror for the sake of it can work unless you're able to ground it in some kind of relationship.

I tend to spend a lot of time building characters that the reader will believe in and sympathize with.

The first thing, when I read the script, is that I need to care about what happens and feel compelled by the story and engaged by the characters. It needs to resonate with me, even if what the characters are going through is not something that I have experienced in my life. I have to feel like it has some sort of meaning to me.

Whenever you can manoeuvre your characters into a situation where they both have a good argument to make, you're on the right track.

As an actor, I think a mistake that any storyteller can make is to play the ending.

I am a firm believer that a good plot makes for a fun enough read, but it's not what binds us. If we don't care about the characters, we won't care - not in a lasting way - about what's happening to them.

I try to write something that would interest anybody and keep them turning the page. You must have a plot and good storyline.

These people are real to me, and situations keep coming up where their emergence feels natural. It's like meeting old friends. I hope readers feel the same way.

Besides the mistakes that are pointed out, I love the way readers become involved with the characters. When readers start asking about character motivations instead of concentrating on the special effects, it means you're connecting with them on a personal level.

Remember, if you don't feel passionate about the characters and subject of your story, your readers won't either.

If you don't have people that the reader cares about and stories that are gripping, you've got nothing.

We seek to craft characters who inspire empathy: characters our audience will care for and, as a result, will care about what happens to them and thus will share the journey we have charted. A story, after all, is the character's journey.

The fundamentals for me are character and conflict. I put character first because readers will be indifferent to conflict if they are indifferent to the character who is experiencing it.

I love storytelling. I love characters that are complicated and layered, real people, that you see why they do what they do.

If you have great characters, then your reader becomes emotionally invested in those people.

My characters are always utterly sympathetic to me, if that makes any sense.

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

I think there is a difference between connecting with a character and supporting and believing their policies.

You have to be involved and relate to the characters in order to make a film that is true emotionally.

It was always about the story rather than the character.

I have always argued, in a good novel, interesting things happen to interesting people.

I write books that will make 10 or 12 hours disappear, and hopefully they'll resonate with you for a few days, where you'll remember the characters and the story. That suits me fine; I am happy with that.

I like my characters to be ones I think about long after I've finished reading the script.