For a novelist to create character, I think, takes a sharp objective eye but also an intuitive intelligence, a receptiveness, a wilingness to make oneself blank in order to percieve things as they actually are.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Creating characters needs both sharp observation and openness to see reality.
- In plain terms
- Good characters need focus and openness.
- What can you take from it?
- Observation and humility create authentic characters.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you observe people?
- What makes a character real?
Another view
Not all writers use this balanced approach.
More from Donna Tartt
Everything takes me longer than I expect. It's the sad truth about life.
Permalink to quote #9 I believe, in a funny way, the job of the novelist is to be out there on the fringes and speaking for an experience that has not really been spoken for.
Permalink to quote #11 Children love secret club houses. They love secrecy even when there's no need for secrecy.
Permalink to quote #8
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