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The characters you refer to as predatory and unsavory are useful. They're the ones who make a novel into a thriller. They're active, and most of the common virtues, the signs of a good person, are not.

Thomas Perry

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Thomas Perry
Age: 72 †
Born: 1737
Born: January 29
Died: 1809
Died: June 8
Entrepreneur
Journalist
Musician
Opinion Journalist
Philosopher
Politician
Prosaist
Writer
Thetford
Norfolk
Persons
Useful
Person
Active
Unsavory
Writing
Characters
Predatory
Make
Ones
Thriller
Good
Novel
Thrillers
Virtue
Refer
Common
Signs
Character
Virtues

More quotes by Thomas Perry

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Reading a novel in which all characters illustrate patience, hard work, chastity, and delayed gratification could be a pretty dull experience.
Thomas Perry
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I don't think the problem is that people don't read enough mystery books, but that people don't read.
Thomas Perry
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You have very accurately described the difficulty of presenting my books on film: many of my characters are alone most of the time, and when they do talk, what they say is mostly lies. That can make for a pretty confusing film.
Thomas Perry
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There are days when I intentionally don't write. For instance, I never write when I'm traveling, because travel is a situation where I can learn more by looking and listening than by working.
Thomas Perry
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I don't have dry seasons, because I don't allow them.
Thomas Perry
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I do want to write about Jane Whitefield again, but only when I have a good enough idea - something I've figured out about her that's news and that's worth a reader's time.
Thomas Perry
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Once you have invented a character with three dimensions and a voice, you begin to realize that some of the things you'd like him to do to further your plot are things that such a person wouldn't, or couldn't, do.
Thomas Perry
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Tod Goldberg has long been one of the most interesting writers around, and Gangsterland is his biggest and best book so far.
Thomas Perry
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When I write a book, I'm making it the best book I can.
Thomas Perry
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It's important, I think, for a writer of fiction to maintain an awareness of the pace and shape of the book as he's writing it. That is, he should be making an object, not chattering.
Thomas Perry
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I do like to explore evil characters in my books.
Thomas Perry
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Contrary to what many writers imply about the process, nobody forces a writer to sell his work to the film industry.
Thomas Perry
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What I look for in any character, good or bad, is whether I can hear him speak. If I can imagine him that clearly, then I can write about him.
Thomas Perry
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I held a variety of jobs - most notably ten years working in universities - and kept on writing.
Thomas Perry
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If I don't have a project going, I sit down and begin to write something - a character sketch, a monologue, a description of some sight, or even just a list of ideas.
Thomas Perry
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There is no place so benighted and godforsaken that some moron won't go there on vacation. People could be living in an open sewer and swallowing dirt to stop the hunger, and there'd be a couple from Larchmont wearing comfortable shoes there to take pictures of them.
Thomas Perry
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Yes, in my books I do edit myself to keep from becoming the Village Explainer.
Thomas Perry
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I do try not to spend much time reading in the suspense genre.
Thomas Perry