Narrative Honesty Quotes

I write unreliable narrators because - paradoxically - they're the most honest, true-to-life kind there is.

Writing fiction means putting a lot of what you believe about the world at risk, because you have to follow your characters.

Every time you do a true story - and I've done a few - you have to look in the mirror and say, 'That's close enough. I'm comfortable with this.' You're always going to compress time; you're going to change the order of things. But I don't think you want to tell a big lie. You want to think that you're embracing the truth.

We are living in complex, difficult times and I wanted Syriana to reflect this complexity in a visceral way, to embrace it narratively. There are no good guys and no bad guys and there are no easy answers. The characters do not have traditional character arcs; the stories don't wrap up in neat little life lessons, the questions remain open. The hope was that by not wrapping everything up, the film will get under your skin in a different way and stay with you longer. This seemed like the most honest reflection of this post 9-11 world we all find ourselves in.

I'm used to writing songs and songs-I can fill em up with symbolism and metaphors. When you write a book (Chronicles, Vol. 1), you gotta tell the truth, and it can't be misinterpreted.

There is no realism in American films. No realism, but something much better, great truth.

One of the things I have noticed about my novels is that they all concern people who can't quite bring themselves to tell the truth about their own lives... I've come to realise that this interest in damaged, untellable stories comes from my parents.

Some books make us dream, others bring us face to face with reality, but what matters most to the author is the honesty with which a book is written.

As the camera, I try to subordinate every word to be truthful and honest to each character's context.

Certain things can't be approximated, so I'm always interested in getting in another way, one which makes the reader bend in closer to the scene even if that scene, especially if that scene, is painful... Brutal language isn't necessarily the most truthful way of describing a brutal moment.

There's something specific about Chicagoans, and I just felt like I'd love to tell their story in a creative way. Not in a way to go, 'Oh, Chicago's perfect.' I don't believe that. I don't think that. I know we have our issues.

…I go through a story for lies. I might discover the lie of trying to show off. Sometimes they’re lies of character. Sometimes they are lies of writing the most beautiful sentence in the world that has nothing to do with the story.

Every movie requires its own style. Just be honest to the story. Tell the story in the best possible way that is different, exciting and original.

My purpose is to make my narrative as truthful as possible.

I think the more honest you are with the storytelling, the better it works.

The process of writing a story isn't about fair. It's about getting to the heart of your story, getting to the truth of it. It transcends ideals of fair and unfair, right and wrong.

Story is honorable and trustworthy; plot is shifty, and best kept under house arrest.

I guess you can stay sort of true to the story; you don't have to artificially bring the character back from whatever doom you've designed for them, you can tell the story, I suppose, honestly.

I can get behind any story that's willing to tell itself without apology.

In our show, we try to think about consequences, not about tricking the audience or hiding things to fool the audience.