I am a firm believer that a good plot makes for a fun enough read, but it's not what binds us. If we don't care about the characters, we won't care - not in a lasting way - about what's happening to them.
Interpretation
Character connection is essential for a compelling story.
V. E. Schwab emphasizes that while a good plot may attract readers, it is the emotional connection to characters that truly engages them. Without empathy for the characters' experiences, the story loses its significance and impact, leading to a fleeting interest rather than a lasting impression.
In practice
In a book club discussion, this quote could be used to highlight the importance of character development.
I still get rejections - frequently - and my goal isn't to never fail, to never be turned down, but simply to succeed more often than I don't. And in order to do that, I have to constantly put myself out there, to judgment, critique, and rejection.
In literature the ambition of the novice is to acquire the literary language; the struggle of the adept is to get rid of it.
Novelists are stamina merchants, grinders, nine-to-fivers, and their career curves follow the usual arc of human endeavour.
Some Native American writers enjoy being called Native American writers.
Quite, quite,' she thought with a little sigh. 'It's always like this in their adventures. To save and be saved. I wish somebody would write a story sometime about the people who warm up the heroes afterward.
As soon as histories are properly told there is no more need of romances.
I have been attacked in Turkey more for my interviews than for my books. Political polemicists and columnists do not read novels there.
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