Robert Ingpen Quotes

Marc Cherry is so good at writing himself into a corner, then writing himself out of that corner. It's really fun to watch that.

Really good books need a chaos element: something weird or inexplicable.

I have always argued, in a good novel, interesting things happen to interesting people.

So in the first draft, I'm inventing people and place with a broad schematic idea of what's going to happen. In the process, of course, I discover all sorts of bigger and more substantial things.

If you create a good story that has a lot of story value... I think audiences like that. It's why they stick with the same TV show over and over.

I do feel that if you can write one good sentence and then another good sentence and then another, you end up with a good story.

For me, the writing process is the same as the reading process. I want to know what happens next.

Really I'm a fan of any movie, whether it's suspense, action, or comedy - anything that has a good story.

I'm not a purist - I like films that are narrated and films that aren't, films that are beautiful and films that are clumsy but heartfelt. Mostly, I just like a good story and good characters.

When I begin to write a story, I usually know how things will end. It's the journey toward that point I must discover. The process is sometimes painful, but also exciting.

I never know as a writer when I set out into a novel where it's going to take me.

I'm not like J.K. Rowling, where I know there's going to be this number of seasons, and I know exactly what's going to happen. I would be so bored if that was the case. There would be no journey. There would be nothing to discover.

One feels the excitement of hearing an untold story.

I have likened writing a novel to going on a journey, with some notion of the destination I will arrive at, but not the whole picture - which emerges gradually as a series of revelations, as the journey goes along.

The success of the storytellers - we're only as good as what we can withhold from the audience. Aspects of surprise and letting things play out for the audience - it's so much a part of their enjoyment. It's one of the great things about working in the movies and being a great storyteller.

You write a novel by inventing a world and inventing the rules that govern that world. Then you break the rules when you want to.

I think audiences can feel when they're being served a filler episode.

To me, action has to come from the plot.

The sense of discovery only comes when I'm making discoveries alongside the reader. It feels crucial for me to not know too much about how things will turn out. So I try to develop strong characters with recognizable desires and put them together with other characters and see what happens.

I never look at twists as a way to trick the audience. Obviously, I think a good story has surprises and unexpected turns, and you always want to do that with an audience. But it has nothing to do with conning them or making them believe so strongly in one thing and then kind of going the other way.

I think kids want the same thing from a book that adults want - a fast-paced story, characters worth caring about, humor, surprises, and mystery. A good book always keeps you asking questions, and makes you keep turning pages so you can find out the answers.

The thing I am attracted to is just good writing and stories that are based somewhat in reality.

Oh yeah, I grew up with comics. You know, I always like to describe myself as a 'narrative junkie.' I love novels, I love comics, movies, TV. If it's a good story, I'm hooked.

I never know how a novel is going to end, because you don't really know what's going to be at the bottom of a novel until you excavate it.

Whichever character I'm using and wherever I am in my mind dictates what kind of story I'm going to tell.