I was eight years old when I got the talk about what to do if a police officer stops me. I was 15 when I was face-down on the curb for the first time.
Jason ReynoldsRead
I try to create characters people want to sit with, even if nothing is happening.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of relatable and engaging characters in storytelling.
Jason Reynolds expresses a key aspect of storytelling, which is creating characters that resonate with readers and evoke a sense of companionship. He highlights that it’s not just about plot or action, but about the emotional connection that allows readers to feel at ease with the characters, as if wanting to spend time in their presence, regardless of the storyline’s intensity.
In practice
This quote can be shared in a writing workshop to encourage authors to focus on character development.
I was eight years old when I got the talk about what to do if a police officer stops me. I was 15 when I was face-down on the curb for the first time.
If a kid is reading a book about someone who looks like them but doesn't talk like them, we stunt their growth by dissing them.
Having a superpower has nothing to do with the ability to fly or jump, or superhuman strength. The truest superpowers are the ones we all possess: willpower, integrity, and most importantly, courage.
Hip-hop saved me. It gave me permission to use language in a certain way. It validated my community and my friends. It gave our slang a certain elegance.
People always say time heals. Time doesn't necessarily heal anything. It allows you to manage things. There are occasions where you feel the pain as if it just happened, but you know that it's a fleeting moment.
To make great movies, there is an element of risk. You have to say, 'Well, I am going to make this film, and it is not really a sure thing.'
There’s something very important about films about black women and girls being made by black women. It’s a different perspective. It is a reflection as opposed to an interpretation, and I think we get a lot of interpretations about the lives of women that are not coming from women.
I hope people will say, 'Mr. Valentino, he did something for fashion, no?'
One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the background. They fade on the page and live on the stage when set to music.
Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception. How many colors are there in a field of grass to the crawling baby unaware of ‘Green?’ How many rainbows can light create for the untutored eye?
Whatever's merely willful, and not miraculous (be never it so skilful) must wither fail and cease - but better than to grow beauty knows no.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.