Five Great Quotations about Story Characters

“Many of the characters are fools and they’re always playing tricks on me and treating me badly.” - Jorge Luis Borges

“Characters who simply have goals opposed by others do not create the effects of a story.” - Bill Johnson

“Whenever I’m asked why Southern writers particularly have a penchant for writing about freaks, I say it is because we are still able to recognize one.” - Flannery O’Connor

“The characters act for reasons that they can’t control and, as readers, we have to believe in their motivations, their sense of choice and in the reality of their suffering, even though, deep down, we know it’s all just puppetry on the part of the writer.” - Johnny Rich

“Don’t let yourself slip and get any perfect characters... keep them people, people, people, and don’t let them get to be symbols.” - Ernest Hemingway

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