Martha Grimes Quotes

I'm just interested in serialization in fiction. I'm fascinated by it. I love the 19th-century novels. I'm interested in ways to bring that back to fiction.

In writing a series of stories about the same characters, plan the whole series in advance in some detail, to avoid contradictions and inconsistencies.

What is nice about doing a long-running show is finding a language that gives it some depth.

We have a 25-year head start for the stories of 'Scorpion.' By the time we get to Season Two and Three, the stuff that happened because of Season One will actually fuel Season Three. So it'll become a self-sustainable show.

Anyone who's been reading my stuff can see that there's a lot of tracks being laid for future stories.

Characters are so important to a story that they actually decide where the story is going. When I write, I know my characters. I know how things are going to end, and I know some important incidents along the way.

I used to get stuck trying to find the first sentence of a story, then I realised that it was often because I didn't know what problem a character was facing in the story. As soon as I did, I could have the character trying to do something about it or have the problem whack him between the eyes.

Keep everything in context, and try to have each line doing more than one thing - not just giving exposition but also revealing character and history, etc.

In judging other people's work, particularly short stories, I have noticed how novice writers tell the readers everything about their characters in the first paragraphs, disclose their motives, reveal their recent activities and their future intentions.

Usually, when I read something, I'm looking for the story first. And then, when I re-read it, I check every part of it to see whether every scene is necessary. You imagine yourself watching the movie, to see whether or not you're losing the through-line of the story.

I worked in script development, many years ago, and read a lot of scripts. Between that and the scripts I've read as an actor, and I'm a writer as well, I think I have a pretty good sense about whether the bones of a story are there and whether the structure is intact.

'Breaking Bad' and 'The Shield' were planned right from the start so that their narrative trajectory would come down in a blaze of fireworks.

My gut feeling about sequels is that they should be premeditated: You should try to write a trilogy first or at least sketch out a trilogy if you have any faith in your film.

I don't like to read books where I feel as though I've stepped into the middle of things and don't know what's going on. I like to see characters I've met before, but I don't want to feel left out because I haven't read other books in the series.

As long as your storytelling and emotional depth are intact, that's what people will focus on.

Remember, if you don't feel passionate about the characters and subject of your story, your readers won't either.

If you don't have people that the reader cares about and stories that are gripping, you've got nothing.

You don't have to resolve every problem of the book at the end, but you do have to resolve some.

It's all just one film to me. Just different chapters.

I'm a great planner, so before I ever write chapter 1, I work out what happens in every chapter and who the characters are. I usually spend a year on the outline.

I don't need all that much - I just need to know who my characters are and what kind of jam they're going to get into, and I'll write myself out of their jam.

The main thing that I learned from editing is that most people, when they're making a film, they start too early into the story. They will try to set up the characters, they will try to establish things before the plot actually starts.

You write a novel by inventing a world and inventing the rules that govern that world. Then you break the rules when you want to.

When your protagonist bores you, you're in trouble.

Working within the limitations of the shared world generally made the writing easier, because I didn't have to invent any of the characters or background, which is usually the hardest part.