Best stories & thinking Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“I think striking the right tone for your story is, if you like, the alchemical work of writing.”

“I don't think I prefer writing for one age group above another. I am just as pleased with a story which I feel works well for very small children as I do with a story for young adults.”

Thinking Feels Writing Wells Children Stories Age Young Groups Adults Young Adult Small Child

Author:Margaret Mahy

“I see lots of cycles, for sure. There's the whole post-Star Wars era, but I don't think it's the whole story.”

Thinking War Whole Stories Stars Eras Posts Cycles

Author:Rob Morrow

“I'm not really one of those people who goes and writes some big back story and agonizes over characters. I think you kind of can get it. For me personally, it's just kind of more instinctive. But I don't have kind of an acting background. I fell into it accidentally.”

People Thinking Writing Kind Character Stories Bigs Acting Backgrounds

Author:Rose McGowan

“I'm not a writer. I think I can write short stories and poetry, but film writing, brilliant film writing, is a talent - you can't just do it like that.”

Thinking Writing I Can Stories Film Talent Brilliant Short Story Just Do It Film Writing

Author:Samantha Morton

“I feel like reading really defined me as a writer because I lived my life outside of my own body for so much of my life and I loved it. I've always been a reader. I think living all those stories served me to naturally take that next step to creating.”

Thinking Feels Stories Body Reading Next My Own Steps Reader Creating Defined Next Steps

Author:Stephenie Meyer

“I know when a story is finished when there is not a single thing more I can think to do to it. And since I know at the start what the last line will be, I know when I've reached that point as logically as I can that it's finished. As for the rewriting-it's not foolproof, of course, but if you're honest about having thought of every possibility and you still come back to what you have, what more can you do?”

Ifs Thinking Knows Writing Stills I Can Stories Lasts Courses Lines Honest Possibility Finished Rewriting Foolproof

Author:Amy Hempel

“I feel like when you do things with such a small budget, it actually makes you be more creative... and allows you to concentrate more on the story and the characters. I think that there is something about dirty, gritty and raw filmmaking that makes it feel a little more natural and makes it easier to connect with the action.”

Thinking Feels Littles Character Stories Action Natural Creative Easier Dirty Budgets Filmmaking

Author:Oren Peli

“I think the tricky balance, the most important thing more than the horror is to have a compelling story, compelling drama, a show about great characters that you care about and you want to come back every week to see what they're up to.”

Thinking Want Important Character Stories Shows Care Week Balance Drama Horror Important Things Compelling Tricky Great Character

Author:Oren Peli

“I think it's very important for people to not judge the people you're playing. You have to find a way to love them because their story is theirs. I just don't think there would be any use in that.”

People Thinking Way Important Stories Use Would Be Judging

Author:Sarah Paulson

“I've written short stories in first person, but you have so much more control writing in third person. Third person, you know what everybody's thinking. First person is very limiting, and I could never sustain a first person novel before.”

Thinking Knows Writing Firsts Persons Stories Novel Written Thirds Short Story First Person Third Person Thinking First

Author:Tamora Pierce

“For me, being in front of a camera is a matter of practicing and refining your art. I think, if you're telling a story worth telling, it's worth investing the time into developing.”

Ifs Thinking Art Matter Stories Fronts Cameras Investing Developing Refining

Author:Danny Pino

“Sometimes I think I'm a one-trick pony because I'm not very inventive about new ways of telling stories.”

Thinking Way Sometimes Stories Tricks New Ways Telling Stories Ponies

Author:Sara Paretsky

“I hardly ever think about audience. I just try to tell a story for me. I write the kind of story I would like to read.”

Thinking Writing Trying Kind Stories Audience

Author:Brent Runyon

“I don't know where people think I'm from, but I'm from Chicago. It's really just that. People wanna romanticize it and say, 'There's two sides to it, and it's a beautiful love/hate story of violence and music.' But it's really just a very scummy place where people don't have respect for other people's lives.”

People Thinking Knows Two Stories Beautiful Hate Sides Violence Chicago Respecting Others Two Sides Love Hate Beautiful Love

Author:Chance the Rapper

“I think writers have to be proactive: they've got to use new technology and social media. Yes, it's hard to get noticed by traditional publishers, but there's a great deal of opportunity out there if you've got the right story.”

Ifs Thinking Hard Stories Use Opportunity Social Deals Technology Media Social Media Traditional Publishers New Technology Proactive

Author:Ian Rankin

“In early 1993, a hostile observer might have had grounds for thinking that the Unix story was almost played out, and with it the fortunes of the hacker tribe.”

Thinking Stories Might Fortune Tribes Hostile Observers Hackers Unix

Book:The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary

Source: The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary

“I think about everything first. I think about the scenario: the story and the characters, what I'm trying to say and I'll think about that for a couple of days until it's all locked in and then when I get to an instrument it'll just fall out. But the song's kind of all ready there in my head.”

Thinking Trying Firsts Kind Character Stories Song Fall Ready Couple Instruments Locked Scenarios

Author:Graham Russell

“I wrote for years before I was ever published, and I don't think I could ever stop. That said, I was also a veterinarian before I sold my first book, and I still volunteer my time to help with animal welfare causes. So that is a career I would be happy to return to - while still secretly writing strange stories back in my doctor's office.”

“I think cinema should provoke thoughts, sure, but using it as I soapbox I think is the wrong place. I never want to be part of something like that, where there's an agenda there that's not about telling a story, where its someone getting on a soapbox and preaching their own beliefs onto somebody.”

Thinking Want Should Stories Belief Cinema Agendas Preaching Provoking Soapbox

Author:Jeremy Renner

“I would love to document the Roots; I think they have an interesting story. I have a curiosity about them. Their musicality and their live performances I think would be great, and I have a feeling that there are stories behind each one of them.”

Thinking Stories Feelings Would Be Interesting Behinds Roots Performances Curiosity Documents Live Performance Interesting Stories Musicality

Author:Michael Rapaport

“I don't think you can write - at least not well - if you don't love stories, love the written word.”

Ifs Thinking Writing Wells Stories Literature Written Love Story Written Word

Author:Nora Roberts

“There's not as much oxygen in that hot gym and I think it's great for conditioning. I believe in a lot of boxing. You can train and work on the speed bag and heavy bag, but when you get in the ring with another fighter, it's a different story. Punches are coming at you, there's physical contact, muscle against muscle.”

Thinking Believe Different Stories I Believe Hot Train Heavy I Believe In Speed Rings Contact Fighter Boxing Muscles Bags Gym Oxygen Conditioning

Author:Emanuel Steward

“I would love to make some kind of film about the witches and the Inquisitions. That would be really fun because I don't think their stories have been told enough.”

Thinking Kind Has Beens Enough Stories Would Be Film Fun Witch Inquisition

Author:Amy Smart

“I think violence, cynicism, brutality and fashion are the staples of our diet. I think in the grand history of story-telling, going back to people sitting around fires, the dark side of human nature has always been very important. Movies are part of that tradition.”

People Thinking Humans Important Stories Sides Dark Fire Violence Fashion Human Nature Sitting Tradition Diets Cynicism Brutality Dark Side Sitting Around Staples

Author:Eric Stoltz

“I think the tendency to over-explain and over describe is one of the most common failings in fantasy. It's an unfortunate piece of Tolkien's legacy. Don't get me wrong, Tolkien was a great worldbuilder, but he got a little caught up describing his world at times, at the expense of the overall story.”

Thinking World Writing Littles Stories Common Fantasy Pieces Failing Caught Tendencies Legacy Expenses Unfortunate Caught Up Describing

Author:Patrick Rothfuss

“And I do think that great fiction, even when it's comedic, has an urgency or an inevitability to it, a sense that the writer absolutely had to write this particular story in this way.”

Thinking Way Writing Stories Fiction Particular Urgency Inevitability Comedic

Author:Karen Russell

“It can take years. With the first draft, I just write everything. With the second draft, it becomes so depressing for me, because I realize that I was fooled into thinking I'd written the story. I hadn't-I had just typed for a long time. So then I have to carve out a story from the 25 or so pages. It's in there somewhere-but I have to find it. I'll then write a third, fourth, and fifth draft, and so on.”

Thinking Writing Years Firsts Long Stories Realizing Written Pages Long Time Thirds Fourth Depressing Fifth Fooled

Author:David Sedaris

“I always think first about the nature of the story. When I had the idea for 'The Namesake,' I felt that it had to be a novel - it couldn't work as a story.”

Thinking Firsts Ideas Stories Felt Novel Namesake

Author:Jhumpa Lahiri

“I think that whenever a book is not a challenge, I'm telling the wrong story.”

Thinking Book Stories Challenges

Author:Maggie Stiefvater

“I think my love is storytelling. No matter what it is, it's storytelling. And so whatever the medium is, what's right for the story, I enjoy doing it.”

Thinking Matter Stories Enjoy Love Is No Matter What Storytelling Mediums

Author:Neil Strauss

“And I just think that to introduce an unknown Shakespeare is thrilling, too - not to do Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet, to do the richer Shakespeare. People will come to this and not know the story.”

People Thinking Knows Stories Introducing Thrilling Juliet

Author:Julie Taymor

“First play I ever did was 'Footloose.' I played the part of Willard when I was 16. I think I wore my drama teacher's jeans and her belt - that's how small I was. I know a lot of Willard's back story from the musical that's not explored in the film. Like he's got this whole relationship with his mama, and he sings this song "Mama Says".”

Thinking Knows Firsts Play Whole Stories Film Song Teacher Drama Musical Jeans Belts Mama Footloose

Author:Miles Teller

“'Mr Selfridge' is a lot more accessible than shows like 'Downton.' Everyone knows the store, but not everyone knows the story. Having this store as the backdrop with all of society working under one roof, I think it really captures people's imagination.”

People Thinking Knows Stories Shows Imagination Stores Capture Roof Backdrop

Author:Zoe Tapper

“I was thinking about what I wanted to write next, after my first novel, and had decided that I wanted to write a story with a lot of strong female characters in it.”

Thinking Writing Firsts Character Stories Wanted Next Strong Novel Female Decided Female Characters Strong Female Characters Strong Female

Author:Joan D. Vinge

“I think the thing's that perhaps sad really is that younger people haven't come in and I think it must have been absolutely fantastic to have worked in the 50's when you had all of the great Broadway composers and when West Side Story didn't win the Tony Award.”

People Thinking Has Beens Stories Winning Sides Havens West Fantastic Awards Composer Broadway West Side West Side Story

Author:Andrew Lloyd Webber

“I don't think of myself as an illustrator. I think of myself as a cartoonist. I write the story with pictures - I don't illustrate the story with the pictures.”

Thinking Writing Stories Cartoonist Illustrators

Author:Chris Ware

“I don't think you can really make television based on what you think audiences want. You can only make stories that you like, because you have to watch it so many times.”

Thinking Want Stories Watches Audience Television

Author:Dick Wolf

“Obviously sex and nudity sells, but that's what people go to cable for but that's not going to happen on network daytime television... so I think it really is always going to come down to story. How do you make a story interesting enough so people will tune in? That's always going to be it.”

People Thinking Enough Stories Happens Sex Interesting Television Sells Tunes Cables Nudity Daytime

Author:Jack Wagner

“Doing a story about my mundane, waking life, how much I don't like my job, or breaking up with someone, I don't think so. Those stories don't interest me that much as a general thing.”

Thinking Stories Jobs Interest Waking Mundane Waking Life

Author:Jim Woodring

“I heard so many stories from Gaomi's peasants that I had an irrepressible urge to write them down. Today, Gaomi's peasants know that they have become famous around the world through my writings, but I think they are a little puzzled by this.”

Thinking Knows World Writing Littles Stories Today Heard Around The World Urges Peasants Puzzled Irrepressible

Author:Mo Yan

“There's also something happening in television similar to what happened in the '80s, when people stopped taking so many drugs and wanted to hear real instruments in music again. I think people want plot, story and characters. Those are more important than having a big star.”

People Thinking Want Important Real Character Stories Bigs Wanted Stars Happened Television Drug Happenings Instruments Plot 80s

Author:Jessica Pare

“I think you will agree that I am alive in every part of this book; turn back twenty, thirty, one hundred pages - I am back there. That is why I hate the story; characters are not snakes that they must shed their skins on every page - there can only be one action: what a man is. When you have understood this, you will be through with novels.”

Thinking Men Writing Book Character Stories Action Hate Turns Novel Alive Pages Understood Hundred Skins I Hate Twenties Agree Thirty Shed Snakes I Am Alive

Author:Kenneth Patchen

“Here's my answer to the very real existential crisis that grips me midway through everything I've ever tried to do: I think stories help us fight the nihilistic urges that constantly threaten to consume us.”

Thinking Writing Real Helping Stories Fighting Answers Crisis Urges Existential Existential Crisis Midway

Author:John Green

“I've always been interested in medicine and was pleased when my brother became a doctor. But after thinking seriously about that field, I realized that what intrigued me was not the science, not the chemistry or biology of medicine, but the narrative - the story of each patient, each illness.”

Thinking Stories Fields Brother Doctors Medicine Patient Illness I Realized Narrative My Brother Biology Chemistry Intrigued

Author:Lois Lowry

“I think Hollywood is so driven by money, the people who are making the decisions are not necessarily reflective of the melting pot, so what stories are you going to want to tell? You're going to want to tell stories about yourself.”

People Thinking Want Stories Decision Hollywood Driven Pot About Yourself Melting Melting Pot

Author:Sanaa Lathan

“I think understanding your life as a story is a really terrific way of kind of knowing where you are and knowing who you are.”

Thinking Way Kind Stories Understanding Knowing Who You Are Where You Are Terrific Knowing Who You Are

Author:Donald Miller

“I think, in the grand epic, Jesus is the hero of our stories. And our stories, as they were, are subplots in a grand epic and our job is not to be the hero of any story. Our job is to be a saint in a story that he is telling.”

Thinking Stories Jobs Jesus Hero Saint Epic Subplots

Author:Donald Miller

“I've loved fairytales, folklore and mythology since I was a small child, and I think it was inevitable that they would influence my style and my development of stories.”

Thinking Children Stories Influence Style Development Mythology Inevitable Fairytale Folklore Small Child

Author:Juliet Marillier

“Third person allows a deeper exploration of the relationships between characters. We can see their misunderstandings and hear what they think about each other. We can create a more complex structure with various story threads running parallel.”

Thinking Persons Character Stories Running Thirds Structure Complexes Various Deeper Exploration Thread Misunderstanding Parallels Third Person

Author:Juliet Marillier

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