Charles R. Swindoll Quotes

A good scenario doesn't make a good science fiction story - but it's a setting within which a good science fiction story might be told.

It's really about, oh come on, this guy wouldn't say that or he wouldn't do that, you know, it's about the characters, about the story, about the situation.

Technique is of less interest than character and story.

Plot is a literary convention. Story is a force of nature.

When well told, a story captured the subtle movement of change. If a novel was a map of a country, a story was the bright silver pin that marked the crossroads.

It's all still about having a good story. You have to have a good story as your anchor, as your main focus. So for me, personally, I just like to concentrate on writing the best book I can, and if there's other stuff that goes along with it, that's awesome, as long as the story is central.

Twitter provides a great amount of timely information, but we still need those people to fill out the rest of the story and the context.

In drama, the characters should determine the story. In melodrama, the story determines the characters.

You have to know the story that you're telling, and you have to know the tone in which the story is being told.

You can't rely on the acting to tell the story.

Stories worked much the same way . . . A false note at the beginning was much more costly than one nearer the end because early errors were part of the foundation.

It's all about this abstract entity called the story. It's all about the best way to tell the story, and to make a movie about the issues that this story is about. Filmmaking is storytelling, for me.

An idea might spark an essay, but never a story.

Stories work, if they have a beginning, middle and end.

The most important thing is the story. Not the script, but the story.

But if you don't understand that story is character and not just idea, you will not be able to breathe life into even the most intriguing flash of inspiration.

Actors are merely the medium through which a story happens.

I do like putting scenario and story first, and I actually like masking whatever I want to say in the guise of genre.

The medium is secondary to the stories.

Stories may well be lies, but they are good lies that say true things, and which can sometimes pay the rent.

Humans know when it's not a good story. Unless you do this for a living, you may not know exactly why you don't like a story, but you can't fool an audience ever. They know when you have it and they know when you don't.

NOVEL, n. A short story padded.

Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.

I love things that are old and beautiful and tell a story, even if it's a sad one.

You can't tell a good story without conflict - the story can't be beautiful or meaningful. We're taught to run from conflict, and it's robbing us of some really good stories.