Taylor Sheridan Quotes

When I work, I think mainly in terms of dramatic choices.

I never really approach any project or story thinking of themes first or what a certain character 'represents.' Maybe other writers do, but for me, it just starts with the characters and a certain emotion I want to convey. It usually isn't until I get deeper into a book and look back a bit that I start to see the themes, etc.

I'm more interested in character than events. I've observed that about myself as a writer. I find events, even the most dramatic sort, not to be such fertile ground.

My job is to help the functioning of the story, not to draw attention to myself, but to make my characters function within the story, to work for the benefit of the story, to make the whole thing work.

We start with strong characters and build the movie from there. That not to say we don't struggle with story - that's the most challenging part.

I'm really quite bad at coming up with plot ideas. I like to create characters and just see what will happen to them when I let them loose!

My stories are character driven.

One of the challenges is creating characters. I am trying to compose my sentences to express epic events happening to ordinary people.

I never outline my novels before I write. I do have a vague sense of beginning, middle, and end at the outset of each book, but for me, writing has always been a very character-driven process.

My only conclusion about structure is that nothing works if you don't have interesting characters and a good story to tell.

Producing is figuring out how to make each character have a distinct voice, how to make the story twist and turn - that's the biggest challenge.

We try to not write stories based on reaction. We try to write them based on character integrity as we understand it and observe it.

Plot is just not my gift. I'm fascinated with complex characters, and that doesn't mix well with complex plots. And by the way, when the plot is simple, you can move one piece around and make it feel fresh. Hell or High Water's a good example: I don't tell you why the brothers are robbing the bank.

It does not matter to me how many dialogues I have in the film or the screen time. It is all about story and characters for me.

I often attribute my screenwriting to journalism because they drill in the who, what, when, where and why - but we really need to land on that why. That's what I've been exploring in my writing for many years and trying to get better at.

I'm a novelist, so I can't write about ideas unless they're attached to people.

I have always argued, in a good novel, interesting things happen to interesting people.

For me, the dialogue is the easiest part of writing. It just always seems so obvious what a character will say. Maybe it's because I talk too much!

Once you've established where you are, you go to the character and elaborate on expressions and action.

My books are character-driven. They're not driven by the story.

Basically, fiction is people. You can't write fiction about ideas.

I just want to tell a good story, so I always ask myself, 'Are these people real to me?'

When I wrote for TV, I was always thinking in terms of character and story. After fifteen years, it became hard-wired in me.

'The Piano Lesson' is very sophisticated, easily the most adult or complex material I've attempted. It's the first film I've written that has a proper story, and it was a big struggle for me to write. It meant I had to admit the power of narrative.

Probably every book I read influenced me in some small way. Authors like Jan Westcott, Kathleen Winsor, Catherine Cookson, Georgette Heyer, and even Barbara Cartland taught me to write character-driven stories.