Writing Characters Quotes

“It was great but intense to try to go back into a character’s mind, a mind that is filled with self-loathing and a mind that is male. It is fun to try to psychoanalyze why a character acts and feels the way he/she does, and doing it as a different gender lends itself to many challenges. My desire to delve into the male psyche comes from many years of being drawn to men that seem to have a darker side. But there is also light in them, and it is that duality and intensity that makes me feel alive. Thorne is very much that man as is my first male protagonist, Michael, from the Natalie’s Edge series. Each man, while plagued with a dark past and demons, has this glorious light within them, fighting noble causes. I picture them as true anti-heroes, like the likes of Batman, the Dark Knight.”
― R.B. O'Brien

“Writing characters is like raising kids, only more work—because you have to do everything for them.”
― Steven T. Seagle, It's a Bird...

“I do not think writing is a rational or deliberate process. I never decide who is in my stories. That would be like deciding who we are going to have a relationship with. With seven billion people in the world, would it not be wise to let Life decide who of those people belong with us? With an infinite number of ideas swirling around, would it not be wise to let Life decide which of those ideas belong with us? Stories write themselves, if we let them.”
― Donna Goddard, Writing: A Spiritual Voice

“Writing fiction is a joint venture. The people we, directly or vaguely, base our characters on help us to write by adding their unique energy to the creation of a story. It is not just the energy that subtlely comes from recalling someone. Rather, it is the actual life force that radiates from that person. It is a powerful use of an individual’s life energy. It is co-creation.”
― Donna Goddard, Writing: A Spiritual Voice