Good Storytelling Quotes:

If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.

- Rudyard Kipling

topic: Writing, History, Stories, Good Storytelling

We tell ourselves stories in order to live...We look for the sermon in the suicide, for the social or moral lesson in the murder of five. We interpret what we see, select the most workable of the multiple choices. We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images, by the "ideas" with which we have learned to freeze the shifting phantasmagoria which is our actual experience.

- Joan Didion

source: FaceBook post by Joan Didion from Jul 13, 2011

topic: Suicide, Ideas, Order, Moral Lessons, Magical Thinking

A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.

- Graham Greene

source: Graham Greene (1974). “The end of the affair”, Vintage

topic: Looks, Stories, Moments, Good Storytelling

A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.

- Raymond Chandler

source: Raymond Chandler, Dorothy Gardiner, Kathrine Sorley Walker (1977). “Raymond Chandler Speaking”, p.75, Univ of California Press

topic: Writing, Stories, Good Storytelling

There are books full of great writing that don't have very good stories. Read sometimes for the story... don't be like the book-snobs who won't do that. Read sometimes for the words--the language. Don't be like the play-it-safers who won't do that. But when you find a book that has both a good story and good words, treasure that book.

- Stephen King

topic: Book, Writing, Play, Good Storytelling, Good Words

Good storytelling is humanity's great connector, and it just might keep the world from eating itself.

- James Genn

topic: Humanity, World, Might, Connectors, Good Storytelling

An author must learn the principles of good storytelling only in order to write better from the heart.

- Uri Shulevitz

source: Uri Shulevitz (1997). “Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children's Books”

topic: Heart, Writing, Order, Good Storytelling

To me good storytelling is about journeys. It's about people's journeys, people's discoveries and how they deal with those discoveries; circumstances that put people in different situations.

- Scott Cohen

source: Source: twoaspirinsandacomedy.com

topic: Journey, Discovery, People, Good Storytelling

The most amazing thing for me is that every single person who sees a movie, not necessarily one of my movies, brings a whole set of unique experiences. Now, through careful manipulation and good storytelling, you can get everybody to clap at the same time, to hopefully laugh at the same time, and to be afraid at the same time.

- Steven Spielberg

topic: Unique, Laughing, Manipulation, Unique Experiences, Good Storytelling

I just hope that readers and publishers continue to appreciate good writing and good storytelling in all their various forms. And I hope that people continue to read books, even though we have so many other options for entertainment.

- Karen Thompson Walker

topic: Book, Writing, People, Good Storytelling

You have to think about good storytelling and characters first. Then hopefully, the rest of that stuff will follow, some more than others. But if you don't have a good film and strong characters, then you don't have anything down the road.

- Pete Docter

source: "A chat with Pete Docter. Writer and Director of Toy Story, Wall-E, Monsters, INC., and UP". Interview with David Medsker, www.bullz-eye.com. May 21, 2009.

topic: Strong, Character, Thinking, Good Films, Good Storytelling

Good storytelling appeals to me - good writing.

- Sanaa Lathan

topic: Writing, Storytelling, Appeals, Good Storytelling

My brand is good storytelling. I really want [my company] Hillman Grad Productions to be associated with great stories, interesting characters; things that are three-dimensional and feel honest.

- Lena Waithe

source: Source: blogs.indiewire.com

topic: Character, Interesting, Want, Grad, Interesting Characters

Im not really devoted or specified towards any specific genre at all. I really like it all. Theres good storytelling in all the genres, you know. I just want to tell good stories and do good work.

- Angela Bettis

topic: Stories, Want, Storytelling, Good Storytelling

The L Word reaffirmed that good storytelling has a way of creating community. Fans everywhere have been connecting with each other online, in public and at home-viewing parties.

- Jennifer Beals

topic: Party, Home, Creating, Good Storytelling

I think good storytelling continues to teach you how it unfolds. And so I don't think that film and stage are mutually exclusive at all. It's just that you're always in a wide shot.

- Terry Kinney

topic: Thinking, Film, Storytelling, Good Storytelling

Good storytelling is harder than it sounds, but the easy part is that everyone has the ability to do it. ...Tap into it.

- Peter Guber

source: FaceBook post by Peter Guber from Jun 12, 2011

topic: Positivity, Sound, Easy, Good Storytelling

The kind of people that love 'The Rocketeer' are the kind of people that love good storytelling and innocence and a better world, so to speak, so they're almost always nice people to bump into.

- Billy Campbell

topic: Nice, People, Bumps, Nice People, Good Storytelling

There's no harmony in most people in a way, and I'm attracted to it, and I think it makes for good storytelling.

- Greg Kinnear

topic: Thinking, People, Way, Good Storytelling

My theory for nonfiction is that nobody can be free of some kind of conceptions about whatever story they're writing. But if you can find a way to build those into the story, then the story becomes a process of deconstructing and heightening and sometimes changing those notions and that makes dramatic tension. The initial statement of your position, and then letting reality act on you to change it, is pretty good storytelling.

- George Saunders

source: Source: therumpus.net

topic: Writing, Reality, Stories, Good Storytelling

Good storytelling doesn't have to be in the form of the classics. It doesn't have to be revered by everybody. In fact, to me, the best storytelling is not universally loved by every single person. I think you can water down the ethicacy of the work, itself.

- Bryan Cranston

source: Source: collider.com

topic: Thinking, Water, Facts, Good Storytelling

If you do really good storytelling, things that people also might anticipate and that they might have seen before - there's a reason we go back to stories that we love - so, even if there is a familiarity, if you can do it a different way and hopefully do it well enough, you actually feel the satisfaction of that anticipation given back to you.

- Kimberly Peirce

source: Source: collider.com

topic: People, Different, Stories, Good Storytelling

I think it's always a challenge when you're telling a story that people know. But hopefully, good storytelling - well, there's two things. One is, you definitely have to have surprises and changes so that people are - you keep them interested, you take them down roads that they didn't expect and give them suspense and surprise.

- Kimberly Peirce

source: Source: collider.com

topic: Thinking, Two, People, Good Storytelling

The teacher always used me as an example to the class of good English and good storytelling because we all had to write the same stories. But she used to make me go out front - which I hated - and read my story to the class and I would get huge applause. Not because of who I was but because they truly enjoyed the stories I wrote.

- Michael Jackson

source: "Michael Jackson: 'I am scared of my father'". Interview with Shmuley Boteach, www.nbcnews.com.

topic: Teacher, Writing, Class, Good Storytelling

While I don't like violent programs per se, I do like good storytelling, which made me a fan of shows like Breaking Bad and American Horror Story.

- Hank Stuever

source: Source: live.washingtonpost.com

topic: Horror Stories, Fans, American Horror Story, Good Storytelling

I have this theory that your first film is always your best film in some way. I always try to get back to that moment when you're not relying on things you've done before.

- Danny Boyle

topic: Trying, Done, Way, Best Film, Technical Skills

I look for really great characters. I say great because as long as they're really good, there's something you can do. And really good storytelling. And when people ask me what the story is, I say it's really several stories really. They're intermeshed.

- Matt Dillon

source: "Matt Dillon and Thandie Newton talk Crash". MovieWeb Interview, movieweb.com. May 5, 2005.

topic: Character, Long, People, Good Storytelling

If I really knew how to do good storytelling, I would be a writer. Mystery is not a huge part of it. ... It's tension, it's relationships. I think it's a struggle.

- Scott Cohen

source: Source: twoaspirinsandacomedy.com

topic: Struggle, Thinking, Would Be, Good Storytelling

Good storytelling for me is not so much technical expertise, which I know is applauded often; it's actually freshness of approach. It does mean you sometimes stumble and fall and make a horrible mess of things in seeking that freshness, but you should always keep trying to do that.

- Danny Boyle

source: Interview with Tasha Robinson, www.avclub.com. November 26, 2008.

topic: Fall, Mean, Trying, Good Storytelling