Billy Bob Thornton Quotes

Forget narrative, backstory, characterisation, exposition, all of that. Just make the audience want to know what happens next.

Suspense is my thing. I think I am able to make people want to keep turning pages. They want to know what happens.

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

I love a really good storyline.

I want to tell a story that makes the reader always want to see what will happen next.

I like the idea of shows where I don't know where I'll be at the end of the season.

When you get right down to it, there's something uniquely satisfying in being gripped by a great plot, in begrudging whatever real-world obligations might prevent you from finding out what happens next.

To me, there's still nothing more thrilling than, every week, people getting to see another chapter in this story that you're telling.

I don't like twists. I don't get much out of them. If you know two cars are about to run into each other, you don't walk away and say, 'Oh, I know what's going to happen.' You watch.

Cliffhangers are a lot of fun, but I think they can be easily abused if you're not careful.

The more films and TV shows I spoil for myself, the more I am convinced that truly interesting stories can't be ruined - the plot thickens with the viewing like a rich sauce.

You have to tell a super story that has some fantastical element, but the human element is what's going to keep people watching.

It's always very important to me to try to create a story that feels unpredictable. You can't jump ahead and see what's coming, but at the end, when you've watched the whole thing, it all feels inevitable.

You don’t know what’s going to happen in the end, and that’s what the best plays are.

I think a little menace is fine to have in a story. For one thing, it's good for the circulation.

Stories have no point if they don't absorb our terror.

Will the reader turn the page?

Storytelling, in print or speech, needs vital energy.

You know, we love stories and we love narrative; we love to get lost in an author's world.

People love to be told stories, but it's the sugar that draws you into the theater.

In episodic TV you have to keep things secret to keep the viewer in suspense.

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

I can be so blown away by story lines.

Hack fiction exploits curiosity without really satisfying it or making connections between it and anything else in the world.

I love character and voice, and my favourite books have been the ones in which I've become completely absorbed.