Lorene Scafaria Quotes

I never have particular actors planned when I'm in the process of writing.

At the end of the day, I write characters that I want to play, because I just think, 'Hey, maybe one day it'll get made.'

When you write, you hear the characters speaking to you as you take dictation from what they say. And obviously, they had particular personalities when you hear them.

I'll often dream about characters before I start writing their stories.

As a writer, I always think about who my prototype actors are, in my brain. It's helpful, as a writer, to think about that.

Whenever I have had to write fiction, I've always had to invent a character who roughly has my background.

As a writer of fiction, I spend my days inventing real lives for make-believe people; what I create can only seem real.

I try to talk about things I know about. But my characters are more of a combination of people or how I imagine people would feel.

There are so many characters whizzing around inside my head, it's like Looney Tunes. But as soon as I've finished writing about them, I completely forget who they are.

Most of the time, when I'm writing, I'm writing for myself. I'm thinking, 'What will my character say at this time? What will come out of her mouth?' I create individuals so real to me, I sometimes start talking to them. Then I let them loose on the page.

The way I write my shows, every character is its own organic thing. No character has a life at all until I see it played by somebody.

I don't ever really know where I get my characters from.

I'm a novelist, so I can't write about ideas unless they're attached to people.

I am not an analytical writer. Once I flesh out my characters and decide on the elements of my plot, the story unfolds in my head almost as though it was a movie reel.

And I have the support of the writers: I have a great relationship with the creative team, and they have a good hold of my character and my personality, and they come up with some great stuff, and I'm forever trying to change it up, keep it fresh.

Whichever character I'm using and wherever I am in my mind dictates what kind of story I'm going to tell.

When I wrote for TV, I was always thinking in terms of character and story. After fifteen years, it became hard-wired in me.

That's the way it happens - some characters you set out to use, some are happy accidents. As long as it works, it doesn't really matter how you got them.

I usually don't find myself reacting to my characters. I just create them ... And let the audience decide whether they're empathetic or scared or compelled to cheer me on.

My characters are fictional. I get ideas from real people, sometimes, but my characters always exist only in my head.

After a while, the characters I'm writing begin to feel real to me. That's when I know I'm heading in the right direction.

I'm at the mercy of whatever character comes into my head.

So much of what I do... is coming up with new characters and trying to invent voices for them, and to have people fully fleshed out in my head and to know who can say what in the scene and who these characters are... I love it.

I'm always determined that as a novelist I'm going to go out there and research my characters very thoroughly before I start writing.

When the characters are really alive before their author, the latter does nothing but follow them in their action, in their words, in the situations which they suggest to him.