Jeff Nichols Quotes

I always think plot is what you fall back on if you can't write, to keep things going.

David Milch, twice I got lectures from him about the theory of writing. I told my wife one night when I got home, 'I feel like I'm being paid to sit at the feet of Aristotle.'

So much emotion goes into writing fiction.

All the writing elements are the same. You need to tell a good story... You've got good characters... People think there's some dramatic difference between writing 'Little Bear' and the 'Hunger Games,' and as a writer, for me, there isn't.

Listen to great storytellers; slowly, you will learn about voice, timing, tension, structure, climax - all the things you need to tell stories that will capture the imagination of your audience.

Good storytelling appeals to me - good writing.

When I am writing anything in general, I just want to tell the story that exists in my head; I don't try to write a parable or make a point.

When I work on a novel, I usually have one character and a setting in mind.

I don't think I'm a natural novelist. Plot is definitely one of my weaker points. I've been working on it a long time, and it's not getting much better.

As a storyteller, you have the story that you tell, and you have the way you can tell it, and both are equally important.

When I was starting to write, I was fascinated with 'Knuffle Bunny' by Mo Willems. I remember taking it home and typing it out, trying to figure out how it worked. It's just a classic, with dauntingly few words.

A novel is not a rant.

A short story is one idea; a novel is a whole soup of them.

I think I'm good at metaphors and descriptions. Plot doesn't come naturally to me, so I work really hard at it.

I suppose writing nonfiction did prepare me for writing fiction. Whenever you write anything, you're honing your skills for writing anything else.

Also, they don't understand - writing is language. The use of language. The language to create image, the language to create drama. It requires a skill of learning how to use language.

The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of his own heart, given surnames and Christian names, and sent to walk the earth.

I don't think in terms of optimism and pessimism when writing a story. I am telling a story.

I think storytelling is a thing of beauty, and also very difficult. It's a craft you have to continue to work at.

A short story is something that you can hold in your mind. You can really analyze how the entire thing works, like a machine.

I don't think I could write a straight drama.

It took me years to learn that sentences in fiction must do much more than stand around and look pretty.

My job as an author is to tell the story in the best way possible, to make it flow seamlessly and get the reader to keep turning the page.

Stories of all lengths and depths come from different parts of the cave. For a novel, you must lay in mental, physical and spiritual provision as for a siege or for a time of hectic explosions, while a short story is, or can be, a steady, timed flame like the lighting of a blow lamp on a building site full of dry tinder.

I do feel that if you can write one good sentence and then another good sentence and then another, you end up with a good story.