"I have things planned for every character like what they're doing down the road and coming to different realizations but I don't have how they overlap"
About this Quote
Kirkman is admitting to a kind of storytelling heresy: he knows the destinies, but not the traffic pattern. It is the writerly equivalent of saying, "I’ve booked everyone’s flight, but I haven’t figured out how they’ll all end up on the same layover". For a creator associated with long-haul, character-driven serials, that confession lands as both practical and quietly radical. It rejects the prestige-myth of the master planner who has every beat mapped like a heist.
The intent is disarmingly straightforward: prioritize character continuity over plot architecture. "Planned for every character" signals faith in internal momentum - people change, contradict themselves, learn late, relapse, break. The phrase "down the road" is doing extra work; it frames narrative as time lived rather than puzzles solved. He’s thinking in terms of realizations, not revelations: not the twist that shocks the audience, but the slower click of recognition inside a person.
The subtext, though, is about control. Kirkman’s work thrives on collisions: relationships under pressure, moral compromises forced by circumstance, small choices turning into irreversible rifts. By not pre-designing "how they overlap", he leaves room for emergent drama, the messy combinatorics of an ensemble cast where chemistry and consequence can’t be fully faked in outline form. It also signals a serial storyteller’s reality: publication schedules, reader response, and evolving themes will torque the plan.
Contextually, this is a defense of flexibility in an era that fetishizes "the blueprint". Kirkman is staking out a more human contract with the audience: the characters are the promise; the intersections are the risk.
The intent is disarmingly straightforward: prioritize character continuity over plot architecture. "Planned for every character" signals faith in internal momentum - people change, contradict themselves, learn late, relapse, break. The phrase "down the road" is doing extra work; it frames narrative as time lived rather than puzzles solved. He’s thinking in terms of realizations, not revelations: not the twist that shocks the audience, but the slower click of recognition inside a person.
The subtext, though, is about control. Kirkman’s work thrives on collisions: relationships under pressure, moral compromises forced by circumstance, small choices turning into irreversible rifts. By not pre-designing "how they overlap", he leaves room for emergent drama, the messy combinatorics of an ensemble cast where chemistry and consequence can’t be fully faked in outline form. It also signals a serial storyteller’s reality: publication schedules, reader response, and evolving themes will torque the plan.
Contextually, this is a defense of flexibility in an era that fetishizes "the blueprint". Kirkman is staking out a more human contract with the audience: the characters are the promise; the intersections are the risk.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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