Robert J. Sawyer Quotes

I don't think in terms of optimism and pessimism when writing a story. I am telling a story.

A short story is something that you can hold in your mind. You can really analyze how the entire thing works, like a machine.

Stories of all lengths and depths come from different parts of the cave. For a novel, you must lay in mental, physical and spiritual provision as for a siege or for a time of hectic explosions, while a short story is, or can be, a steady, timed flame like the lighting of a blow lamp on a building site full of dry tinder.

Listen to great storytellers; slowly, you will learn about voice, timing, tension, structure, climax - all the things you need to tell stories that will capture the imagination of your audience.

I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.

I find it satisfying and intellectually stimulating to work with the intensity, brevity, balance and word play of the short story.

Novels usually evolve out of 'character.' Characters generate stories, and the shape of a novel is entirely imagined but should have an aesthetic coherence.

I've always written about other artists, or I write my thoughts down, but I've never written a story.

A novel is not a rant.

'Annapurna' is a sort of novel. It's a novel, but a true novel.

I like to tell stories that have beginnings, middles and ends.

Judgments and secrets are what make a good novel.

Storytelling is about two things; it's about character and plot.

I always think plot is what you fall back on if you can't write, to keep things going.

Those of us with this ancient compulsion to tell stories sometimes start with a single kernel of something.

To me the most important thing is a good story, though I know how cliche that sounds.

I've tried to tell a story. For me, it is the best one.

For me, the short story is the depth of a novel, the breadth of a poem, and, as you come to the last few paragraphs, the experience of surprise.

I want to tell a story and shape it all the way through to the end.

I think we think in terms of stories.

Our biggest challenge is always story. The story is the ultimate thing you try to tackle.

Any story that I can consider worth telling is one that you could tell in words.

A good writer is basically a story teller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind.

A story is built on characters and reasons.

I'm just writing a story that I want to read.