The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives.
Roald DahlRead
I find that the only way to make my characters really interesting to children is to exaggerate all their good or bad qualities, and so if a person is nasty or bad or cruel, you make them very nasty, very bad, very cruel. If they are ugly, you make them extremely ugly. That, I think, is fun and makes an impact.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Exaggerating character traits makes them more engaging and impactful in storytelling.
In this quote, Roald Dahl expresses the idea that to capture the attention of children, characters in stories should have their positive or negative traits greatly amplified. This exaggeration not only makes the characters more memorable but also creates a stronger emotional response from the audience, allowing for a more impactful storytelling experience.
Themes
StorytellingCharactersExaggerationChildrenImpact
In practice
Example use cases
A writer could use this quote when discussing the importance of character development in children's literature.
More from Roald Dahl
All quotes →Matilda said, "Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it's unbelievable.
Roald DahlRead
I asked my mum, who's a very clever psychotherapist, and she says that kids love stories about death; they need it, they need to have stories that deal with death and explain it, as a place to put their fears.
Roald DahlRead
By the time I am nearing the end of a story, the first part will have been reread and altered and corrected at least one hundred and fifty times. I am suspicious of both facility and speed. Good writing is essentially rewriting. I am positive of this.
Roald DahlRead
You seemed so far away," Miss Honey whispered, awestruck. "Oh, I was. I was flying past the stars on silver wings," Matilda said. "It was wonderful.
Roald DahlRead
If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.
Roald DahlRead
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