Ira Glass Quotes

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.

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

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

I believe that, in any novel of mine, the principal objective is the construction of the whole.

It was always about the story rather than the character.

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.

Judgments and secrets are what make a good novel.

Events at home, at work, in the street - these are the bases for a story.

Short stories are my favorite art form. A good one is compact and complete, a telling little slice of life, capturing a moment in time that - for the character - defines her, changes her, is the tipping point for all that will follow.

I love a really good storyline.

In a story, you have to have a theme and an angle, you have to have a beginning, middle and an end. You have to have a defining moment and kick it to death. You gotta be able to recognize that, by the way. It probably takes experience.

The way I express ideas is through the plot, Suspense is an important part of expressing an idea.

It's always the story that interests me.

You can have the greatest characters in the world and write beautifully, but if nothing's happening, the story falls on its face pretty quickly.

Well, a lead is the most important thing about the story.

Considerations of plot do a great deal of heavy lifting when it comes to long-form narrative - readers will overlook the most ham-fisted prose if only a writer can make them long to know what happens next.

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

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 care about narrative structure; I care about how stories unfold.

Drama comes from characters changing. If characters stay the same and nothing changes, there's really nothing to look at.

Narratives are very important to me.

The writing is only ever the attractive thing about a part. And also if all the elements within the writing come together - the character and the structure and the narrative - if they are all there then you become excited.

In chess, you have to bring all the pieces into the game. It is about development. In writing, you have to develop the story.

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

A story is how we construct our experiences.