Cory Barlog Quotes

I think everybody goes through changes, and the same should be said for fictional characters, especially ones that you follow on television.

In the English books, the American kids' books, typically, there is a problem, the characters grapple with that problem, and the problem is resolved.

Conflict is the place where character and plot intersect.

In film, because you know where the ending is, characters can change, but in television, you substitute revelation for change, and that can be hard to pull off.

In the 'Buffy' room, it was never about a plot twist, ever. It was always about, 'Tell the story, tell the characters, complicate their lives, make things get worse,' but we never worked backwards from the plot, and it was always a great lesson.

I like having a plot; I like characters with a reason to get up in the morning.

I like people to be surprised by the turn of events. I don't want things just to be pat and formulaic. If there's some sort of internal combustion in the character or a desire to change the way things are going, that makes for conflict, which is the essence of drama.

What makes a story a story is that something changes. Internal, external, small or large, trivial or of earth-shattering importance. Doesn't matter.

Whether you're writing a horror show or a James Bond film, I think what bubbles beneath is interesting characterization. The colors that emerge through storytelling is what a dramatist does. There's always got to be something bubbling underneath that will erupt at some point.

And almost always there has to be change, change in the characters is the journey - it's the story.

Good stories are driven by conflict, tension, and high stakes.

The villain drives the plot.

I suppose with any good writing and interesting characters, you can have that awfully overused word: a journey.

At the heart of every story is conflict - whether external or internal, make it a good one, and remember that this problem is going to shape your character, leaving her forever changed.

Real life is messy, and drama is a shaped version of real life.

Novels demand a certain complexity of narrative and scope, so it's necessary for the characters to change.

A story isn't interesting unless a character has real challenges to deal with.

Well, I'm always drawn to the drama first. A story is really only interesting to me, if you can remove all of the genre moments and remove the supernatural element, and it still works. Then, I'm interested.

I love seeing a story evolve over several books and watching characters develop.

It was always about the story rather than the character.

Fans want to see a story with characters, and they want to see a story.

The roles I'm interested in or have been interested in, you know, it's going to get down to conflict. Drama is conflict - conflict of interests.

Every film you're commissioned to write is all about an arc; usually, the arc is that the world creates a change in the character, usually for the better. To not have an arc, the messages and ideas in the film became more prominent.

Film is so much to do with perfection and how differently you can feel about someone at the beginning of the film and the end of the film.

I think that's what makes characters interesting - when you paint a person into a corner, and you see what they do to get out of that corner. It's what makes drama drama.