Lionel Shriver Quotes

The story is the only thing that's important. Everything else will take care of itself. It's like what bowlers say. You hear writers talk about character or theme or mood or mode or tense or person. But bowlers say, if you make the spares, the strikes will take care of themselves. If you can tell a story, everything else becomes possible. But without story, nothing is possible, because nobody wants to hear about your sensitive characters if there's nothing happening in the story. And the same is true with mood. Story is the only thing that's important.

The most important thing is the story. Not the script, but the story.

Notice how every science fiction movie or television show starts with a shot of the location where the story is about to occur. Movies that take place in outer space always start with a shot of stars and a starship. Movies that take place on another world always start with a shot of that planet. This is to let you know where you are. Novels and stories start the same way. You have to give the reader a sense of where he is and what's happening as quickly as possible. You don't want to start the story by confusing the reader.

Choices are much more practical and small when you're dealing with a real story. It's about execution, it's not about content.

What is either a picture or a novel that is not character?

Tell the readers a story! Because without a story, you are merely using words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences.

Once upon a time, something happened, and it was better than something not happening. The end.

I always loved English because whatever human beings are, we are storytellers. It is our stories that give a light to the future. When I went to college I became a history major because history is such a wonderful story of who we think we are. English is much more a story of who we really are.

Every scene should be able to answer three questions: "Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don't get it? Why now?"

Character is half the reason we read. We're excited because of the plot, but we care because of the characters.

But after all, the villains are the salt in the soup of a story.

The future of narrative? Built in, part of the human template. Not going away.

I think the best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event, which is to say character-driven.

This may be the most important proposition revealed by history: At the time, no one knew what was coming.

The world before us is a postcard, and I imagine the story we are writing on it.

The most important thing is that you have to have the visual effects working for you, instead of you working for the visual effects.

Perhaps you're not finished with your story, and who knows if you'll ever finish it or not. Honestly, it's not that important.

Only the story can continue beyond the war and the warrior. The story outlives the sound of the war drum... The story is our escort. Without it we are blind... It is the thing that sets us apart from cattle.

People have a very proprietary relationship with Superman. It's important to respect the iconography and the canon, but at the same time, you have to tell a story.

The most important thing is the script.

Friedrich Hayek is not an important figure in the history of macroeconomics.

This opens the door on another chapter of history.

A plot without action is like pasta without garlic, like Dolly Parton without cleavage, and like a writer without his similes.

The most important thing to realize is that everyone is capable of telling a story.

The book is not the important part. The book is the delivery system. The important part is the story and the talent.