Daniel Keys Moran Quotes

All the writing elements are the same. You need to tell a good story... You've got good characters... People think there's some dramatic difference between writing 'Little Bear' and the 'Hunger Games,' and as a writer, for me, there isn't.

I'm not very good at story. In fact, compared to character and language, I barely care about story at all.

I spent ages figuring out things like viewpoint, how you tell the story, and so on.

Language description and metaphors seem readily available. The things I have to work harder at are plot, pacing, and form.

When I'm writing a story, I try to reduce it to the barest possible components and go from there.

When I began writing novels, I read Aristotle to learn how to perfect structure, Pearl Cleage to sustain tension, and Nora Roberts for characterization.

Before you can write a novel you have to have a number of ideas that come together. One idea is not enough.

A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.

To provide background and physical description and all the rest is of course vital to fiction, but vital only insofar as such detail is in the service of a richly imagined story, rather than in the service of good botany or good philosophy or good geography.

Technique is of less interest than character and story.

You can read a dozen different textbooks or how-to manuals that will tell you the basic rules of what makes a story - a beginning, a middle, and an end.

You can't write just anything. Your story needs structure.

The only thing I knew about novels from a technical point of view was that they should have conflict.

Plot is what happens in your story. Every story needs structure, just as every body needs a skeleton. It is how you 'flesh out and clothe' your structure that makes each story unique.

I began to be impressed by what made a good book-how you needed to have a sensible story, a plot that developed, with a beginning, a middle, and an end that would tie everything together.

I believe that the writer should tell a story. I believe in plot. I believe in creating characters and suspense.

It took me years to learn that sentences in fiction must do much more than stand around and look pretty.

The most important aspect of any story, to me, is character.

There is no other way of writing a novel than to begin at the beginning at to continue to the end.

I started as a playwright. Any sort of scriptwriting you do helps you hone your story. You have the same demands of creating a plot, developing relatable characters and keeping your audience invested in your story. My books are basically structured like three-act plays.

You'll work hard to create characters that are compelling and unforgettable. But in the end, it's the story that matters.

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

My sister and brother are both writers as well. We are constantly discussing story and plot lines. And I love to discuss story ideas with my husband.

Among the many problems which beset the novelist, not the least weighty is the choice of the moment at which to begin his novel.

Novelists have to be adept at controlling the flow of information, and, most crucially, they have to be in charge of the narrative.