Story Value Quotes

I did not intend for there to be an incisive historical lesson in 'North and South.' Basically, it's just a good, juicy story.

There is commerciality in storytelling, even in a film or a piece of literature. These things exist. That's why stories came to be: to hold attention and, while you're not looking, you'll get hopefully some nutritional value that the author has been working up. That's narrative; that's passing stuff down.

Writing is incidental to my primary objective, which is spinning a good yarn. I view myself as a storyteller more than a writer. The story - and hence the extensive research that goes into each one of my books - is much more important than the words that I use to narrate it.

I think we all have a responsibility to tell good stories.

I want to be a part of good stories. It's not about my role, but the overall story that counts.

There is no point in doing a lengthy role if there is no importance in it.

When I approach a story or movie, the story is the most important thing.

A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.

If I can get a story about a player, I would give you a ship load of numbers, batting averages and all just for that one precious story. That's the kind of thing that I love to do.

Sometimes you get the cynical person saying, 'Do we really need another book set in Nazi Germany?' But I think you just have to ask, 'Is this a story worth telling?'

If I had to choose between a relative and a good story, I would take the story.

And what it depends on, of course, is whether the story itself is worth the ethical compromise it requires and whether the competition is onto the story.

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.

Everybody's got stories. I don't want to not have stories.

Stories aren't the icing on the cake; they are the cake!

For me, a story's a story if people want to hear it; it's very much based on oral storytelling. And for me, a story is a story when people give me the privilege of listening when I'm speaking it out loud.

No matter who the character is and how big their role, that each person in the story is a human being and deserves respect. Even if they're in the story for ten seconds, I didn't want you to just see them as this entity passing through that's serving all of the other people.

Everybody is an expert on one thing - that's what I learned in my high school journalism class - and that's, of course, his own life. And everybody deserves to live and have his story told. And if it doesn't seem like an interesting story, then that's the failure of the listener, or the journalist who retells it badly.

Our lives are stories, and the stories we have to give to each other are the most important. No one has a story too small and all are of equal stature. We each tell them in different ways, through different mediums—and if we care about each other, we'll take the time to listen.

I think a good story's a good story and a good character's a good character.

I will defend the importance of bedtime stories to my last gasp.

The basic quality that any great story must have is a story that illustrates the human condition.

The thing about stories is you have to pick the ones that last.

To me, a great story well told is a great story well told, and just because the protagonist is a young adult doesn't mean that story has less merit or worth than if the protagonist is a full-grown adult.

I write - and read - for the sake of the story... My basic test for any story is: 'Would I want to meet these characters and observe these events in real life? Is this story an experience worth living through for its own sake? Is the pleasure of contemplating these characters an end itself?