Colossi of the 20th midcentury talk character for your edification.

Ray Bradbury:

Q. I remember listening to a writer talk about her characters once. She said that she was the boss, and they were her puppets: they went exactly where she told them, did what she ordered them to do.

A. You can’t do that. That’s bad writing. They must write you. They must control you. They plot me. I never control. I let them have their lives.

Q. Is that leap of faith scary?

A. No, it’s wonderful fun. I love my characters. I trust them.

*

Vladimir Nabokov:

Q. E.M. Forster speaks of his major characters sometimes taking over and dictating the course of his novels. Has this ever been a problem for you, or are you in complete command?

A. My knowledge of Mr. Forster’s works is limited to one novel which I dislike; and anyway it was not he who fathered that trite little whimsy about characters getting out of hand; it is as old as the quills, although of course one sympathizes with his people if they try to wriggle out of that trip to India or wherever he takes them. My characters are galley slaves.

I consider these two more or less alike in dignity.  Nabokov comes off better here, but then he had all of his interview questions sent by mail so that he could compose replies ahead of time.

Nabokov said that sort of thing several times during the interviews collected in Strong Opinions. The quote in which he also manages to grievously insult Forster was just the one that came most quickly to hand. In general, I don’t suggest Strong Opinions to any reader who is at all burdened by literary aspiration or low self-regard.

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