My books are primarily plot driven but the best plot in the world is useless if you don't populate them with characters that readers can care about.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I'm certainly a plot and character man. Themes, structure, style - they're valid components of a novel and you can't complete the book without them. But I think what propels me as a reader is plot and character.
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.
I much prefer a plotted novel to a novel that is really conceptual.
The characters are always the focal point of a book for me, whether I'm writing or reading. I may enjoy a book that has an intriguing mystery or a good plot, but to become one of my real favorites, it has to have great characters.
I don't think I'm a natural novelist. Plot is definitely one of my weaker points. I've been working on it a long time, and it's not getting much better.
I don't plot my novels - I move along with my characters.
Plot is tremendously important to me: I can't stand books where nothing happens, and I can't imagine ever writing a novel without at least one murder.
I love novels where not much 'happens' but where the interest is in the ideas and analyses of characters.
I never plot out my novels in terms of the tone of the book. Hopefully, once a story is begun it reveals itself.
I always start with characters rather than with a plot, which many critics would say is very obvious from the lack of plot in my films - although I think they do have plots - but the plot is not of primary importance to me, the characters are.