Mary GrandPre Quotes

If you're telling a story it's always best not to play the ending.

That's how you get surprises, because what movies are all about is surprises.

As a writer, I try to appeal to the 'elusive boy audience' the same way I try to appeal to everyone: I do the very best I can to create interesting characters, addictive plots, tons of conflict, believable settings, unexpected plot twists, intriguing beginnings, and satisfying endings.

I personally love a cliffhanger - I think it just extends the pleasure of viewing.

I love a really good storyline.

I better make the plot good. I wanted to make it grip people on the first page and have a big turning point in the middle, as there is, and construct the whole thing like a roller coaster ride.

Tension is the cornerstone of any good story.

Even if your novel occurs in an unfamiliar setting in which all the customs and surroundings will seem strange to your reader, it's still better to start with action. The reason for this is simple. If the reader wanted an explanation of milieu, he would read nonfiction. He doesn't want information. He wants a story.

From beginning to end it's about keeping the energy and the intensity of the story and not doing too much and not doing too little, but just enough so people stay interested and stay involved in the characters.

I believe the most important thing you can do in any kind of novel is to make your reader want to go on with it and want to know what happens next.

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.

I was doing 'Homeland' and read the first two episodes, and all I wanted was episode three to know what would happen next.

What resonates with me whenever I watch a great movie or TV show is the balance of inevitability and unpredictability. And it's a very delicate balance.

A movie is like a person. Either you trust it or you don't.

A novel requires a certain kind of world-building and also a certain kind of closure, ultimately. Whereas with a short story you have this sense that there are hinges that the reader doesn't see.

When you think of a great twist or a red herring or a way of misdirecting the reader, it is good, but you know that they are just tricks at the end of the day, and the way to keep interest is to write characters that people care about.

Judgments and secrets are what make a good novel.

The suspense of a novel is not only in the reader, but in the novelist, who is intensely curious about what will happen to the hero.

Giving consumers the choice of having it all in one big bite means different viewers are in many different places in the book, making it hard to discuss without spoiling the plot. The intervals between first-run programming provide a space for communion and that tantalizing sense of anticipation.

I read little nonfiction, but I have no boundaries about the fiction I relish. The only unfailing criterion is that I can hitch my heart to the imagined world and read on.

Fiction demands structures and recognizable shapes. Big surprises only draw attention to the writer's hand.

That's the mark of a great storyteller, never to give away secrets in advance.

I can be so blown away by story lines.

For me, the writing process is the same as the reading process. I want to know what happens next.

For success, the author must make the reader care about the destiny of the principals, and sustain this anxiety, or suspense, for about 100,000 words.