Gripping Storytelling Quotes

Michael Harvey should be read by all.

I picked up one of the books and flipped through it. Don't get me wrong, I like reading. But some books should come with warning labels: Caution: contains characters and plots guaranteed to induce sleepiness. Do not attempt to operate heavy machinery after ingesting more than one chapter. Has been known to cause blindness, seizures and a terminal loathing of literature. Should only be taken under the supervision of a highly trained English teacher. Preferably one who grades on the curve.

The Chicago Way is a wonderful first novel. Michael Harvey has studied the masters and put his own unique touch on the crime novel. This book harkens the arrival of a major new voice.

As I see it, a successful story of any kind should be almost like hypnosis: You fascinate the reader with your first sentence, draw them in further with your second sentence and have them in a mild trance by the third. Then, being careful not to wake them, you carry them away up the back alley of your narrative and when they are hopelessly lost within the story, having surrendered themselves to it, you do them terrible violence with a softball bag and then lead them whimpering to the exit on the last page. Believe me, they'll thank you for it.

The telling of a good story, especially one that is real and true, is always exciting.

Charles Blow's memoir 'Fire Shut Up in My Bones' was a breathtaking piece of writing.

I want you to be afraid to turn the page (and to do that) you need to show right from the beginning that you're playing for keeps.

Just when you think you’ve got Arranged figured out, time and again Catherine McKenzie delivers the flawless, unexpected twist that keeps you glued to the book.

We want to see drama told in a cathartic way, with power, with emotion where you empathize and then you're frightened. All those feelings charge up in you and you feel for the story.

As long as thriller authors teach us about our world, they'll be relevant.

I don't really care about plot; I want to have a page-turner in a different kind of way.

As long as you keep the audience on the edge of their seats, either scare them or keep them guessing, you can put anything in there that you want.