I don't think the world will destroy itself in a nuclear cataclysm. On the contrary, we have the capacity to save ourselves and save the planet, and we will use it.
Isabel AllendeRead
Heart is what drives us and determines our fate. That is what I need for my characters in my books: a passionate heart. I need mavericks, dissidents, adventurers, outsiders and rebels, who ask questions, bend the rules and take risks.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The core of storytelling lies in the passionate characters who challenge norms and take risks.
Isabel Allende emphasizes the importance of passion and nonconformity in storytelling. She believes that compelling characters, who possess a strong heart and individuality, are essential for creating transformative narratives that question the status quo and inspire readers to explore uncharted territories of thought and action.
Themes
PassionCharactersStorytellingIndividualityRisk-Taking
In practice
Example use cases
During a writing workshop, to inspire aspiring authors to create deep and meaningful characters.
More from Isabel Allende
All quotes →My mother is a great artist, but she always treated her paintings like minor postcards. Had she pursued it, she would have been a great artist. Instead, she looked down on her art.
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I never try to convey a message, I just want to tell a story. Why that story in particular? I have no idea, but I have learned to surrender to the muse. I become obsessed with a theme or with certain stories; they haunt me for years, and finally, I write them.
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My life is about ups and downs, great joys and great losses.
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I'm interested in people who have to overcome obstacles, people who are not sheltered by the umbrella of the establishment, marginals.
Isabel AllendeRead
I'm a writer. In Latin America, they say I'm a Latin-American writer because I also write in Spanish and my books are translated, but I am an American citizen and my books are published here, so I'm also an American writer.
Isabel AllendeRead
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