Story Writing Quotes

Story Writing Quote of the day

I always tell my students, about the biggest baddest things in life you must try to write small and light, save the big writing for the unexpected tiny thing that always makes or breaks a story.

Writing a poem is like having an affair, a one-night stand; a short story is a romance, a relationship; a novel is a marriage-one has to be cunning, devise compromises, and make sacrifices.

Tell the story as if it were only of interest to the small circle of your characters, of which you may be one. There is no other way to put life into the story.

For me the thing that signals a great story is what we might call its autonomy, the fact that it detaches itself from its author like a soap bubble blown from a clay pipe.

I think it is vanity to want to put into a story anything but the story itself.

There is no trick to writing a believable love story, a heartbreaking scene or real-sounding dialogue. All you need is to tell the truth. It’s always heartbreaking.

In terms of writing characters or stories, at least initially, there's no difference between live-action and animation. A good story is a good story, whatever the medium.

But the purpose of a story is to teach and to please at once, and what it teaches is how to recognize the snares of the world.

Nobody with any real sense of humor *can* write a love story. . . . Shakespeare is the exception that proves the rule. (90-91)

If you end your story, it's a static work of art, a finite circle. But if you don't, it belongs to anyone's imagination. It stays alive forever.

Writing a story, regardless of length, begins always with a single word.

The craft, the writing of a song, is about creating a story, a life story, a world within three minutes, but that's the frame, if you like, the picture frame. That fascinates me.

Always let life be wild. Forever have life be interesting.

The heart of a story gives it life.

Your life is a story. Write the one you want to read.

Life tells the most beautiful stories.

Writing is a lonely act. When two writers come together to write a horror story it can be crazy. You can't step on a mine and hope it doesn't explode.

Story should be a descent -- the feeling that there is an intense gravity to the narrative that draws you down, down, down.

Those who suffer much, have much to say.

Learning is essential for living the life you love.

Writing is a holy occupation.

Be what the world needs.

Can you imagine a world without books to read?

I am content when writing short stories.

And it's just dawned on me that I might be the author of my own story, but so is everyone else the author of their own stories, and sometimes, like now, there's no overlap.

I wrote this about you, about our love, our story. And I feel so damn lucky that others in this world, strangers in other parts, can steal a piece of what we have and feel so lucky too.

If a story is only what it seems to be about, then somehow the author has failed.

Behind every drama is a good story...behind every tear is the person who wrote it.

Most people do a good deal of whatever they do motivated by love. For me, few stories are truly complete without it.

Everything from the humble woodlouse to specks of dust moving through a ray of sunlight. Each tells a story.

I decided that a story was anything that I made up that kept the reader turning the pages or watching, and did not leave the reader or the viewer feeling cheated at the end.

Story, it turns out, is the assassin of despair.

In the end, we begin.

A story that has nothing but action and plot is a pretty poor affair

Come with me to the mountains. Every rock there tells a story.

In the end, you have to make love to your story and see what happens.

When life gives you the gift of a great story, to not partake in the telling of that story would be a crime against humanity.

Storytelling keeps life going.

Don’t look. See.Don’t think. Feel.Don’t hear.Listen.Pay attentionMiracles really do happen every day

In life, be a kid in a candy store.

Love is the key to everything. Love your life.

Dreams are good at playing with your memory. They love leaving no trace behind and hate to show up once again in the morning.

If certain aspect needs to be inconsistent, it must better be consistently inconsistent throughout the story.

If you think there is no time to write now, there would never be.

Cliches are the viruses that infect your writing with diseases.

Don’t interrupt when your characters take a flight of their own.

As you become a better writer, the writing becomes more difficult. You toil harder to tell a story in a lesser number of words.

If you are a singer, you must sing. If you are a dancer, you must dance. If you are a writer, you must write. Don’t suffocate your heart.

A writer can do without food for a few hours, but not without the sight of books.

Create a world in front of your readers where they can taste, smell, touch, hear, see, and move. Else they are likely going to move on to another book.