Roberto Orci Quotes

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

Novels are not about expressing yourself, they're about something beautiful, funny, clever and organic. Self-expression? Go and ring a bell in a yard if you want to express yourself.

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.

I write both fiction and nonfiction. I begin my fiction with the main character. The story comes later.

I just try to write entertaining books that are easily identifiable.

There came this point where I sat down with all my notebooks and I had to start to write, when I thought: this whole notion of writing for the person who understands nothing, the average reader... He has to die! I can't have him in my head. And so the person I started writing for was the homicide detective.

My sister and brother are both writers as well. We are constantly discussing story and plot lines. And I love to discuss story ideas with my husband.

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

Ultimately, a director is a storyteller. I wanted to fortify that part of my life as a director, so I thought the best way to do that is to study and learn about the greatest stories ever written.

I'm very interested in storytelling and anything that plays with structure.

It's really, always, the story and the characters that come first, and the other things are kind of dealt with in time or, in fact, driven by the story.

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.'

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

I'm not as worried about the process of writing, simply because I think I've got that one down, you know? I think I know what brings specificity to these ideas, what brings specificity to the genre elements, or anything else, and it's personal emotions.

I never set out to write a script that is 'topical.'

While choosing shows, I look at stories and the concept, and that has to be different.

So much emotion goes into writing fiction.

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

I like to tell stories that have beginnings, middles and ends.

Of course, I'm not allowed to talk about the script, but I can say it is a really good story.

My writing has always been what you call 'narrative fiction' in the sense that it's got very strong plots and twists at the end.

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.

I don't care whether the story is real or fantastical. I tell the story that needs to be told.

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 any good book is based on factual experience. Bad books are about things the writer already knew before he wrote them.