David Mamet Quotes

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

A story is a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it.

I'm all about the story. If I like the character and I think the story's entertaining, I'll do it.

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

You won't have a story unless you have conflict, which means if there's no conflict in a situation, people look for a way to make some.

Get to know your characters as well as you can let there be something at stake, and then let the chips fall where they may.

There's conflict in every story.

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

The villain drives the plot.

Whenever you can manoeuvre your characters into a situation where they both have a good argument to make, you're on the right track.

I think situations are more important than plot and character.

A story is built on characters and reasons.

If you have a beautiful story, it has to have conflict. If you don't have conflict, it can't be a good story.

At the heart of drama is conflict.

Tension is the cornerstone of any good story.

I'm always writing about character first. Plot, such as it is, comes from the characters.

The fundamentals for me are character and conflict. I put character first because readers will be indifferent to conflict if they are indifferent to the character who is experiencing it.

I think conflict is one of the things that makes for a good story.

A compelling story requires conflict, friction, an obstacle to be overcome.

As a dramatist, you're looking for points of friction.

The characters are the plot. What they do and say and the things that happen to them are, in a sense, what the plot is. You can't take character and plot apart from each other, really.

All you need to know about plotting is twofold. 1. Give your characters goals. 2. Don't let them reach those goals.

My job as a dramatist is to find out where these characters want to go, and make it as hard as possible for them to get there.

If you have no conflict, you have no story. That's number one. That's a rule of novels.

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