The Odyssey is the story of motion both purposeful and purposeless, successful and futile. What else is the history of law?
A trap, like a good story, needs to hint at greater things without revealing them until the prey is snared.
But when you get to a song, not only do you have to do a vocal melody, you have to write words and not be redundant and make some semblance of a story.
With a mini series you can give the story a proper sense of pacing, a proper sense of closure.
But I hasten to finish my story. Brevity is justified at once to those who readily understand, and to those who will never understand.
But an experienced reader is also a self-aware and critical reader. I can't remember ever reading a story without judging it.
Obviously because of my personal connection to Mandela and having had his story as part of my childhood, I knew how awesome he was.
I think the greatest thing about making a documentary is your ability to just follow the story and the subject.
I find it easier to play someone who is so far from me because you create someone - you build this person based on the story and the script, with the director.
I don't believe there's two sides to every story. It's black and white. There's right and wrong.
When I was 3, my parents strapped on a pair of Playskool plastic roller skates to my feet, and that's where the story begins.
I think the job of writing and literature is to encourage each one of us to believe that we're living in a story.
For me as a storyteller, I want to follow the characters and the story through what they organically demand.
I generally write a first draft that's pretty lean. Just get the story down.
Don't assume that what we currently think is out there is the full story. Go after the dark matter, in whatever field you choose to explore.
I remember myself at 10 years old telling stories to my sisters and brother. This is something I did through my adolescence and even through my twenties.
When I'm writing the first draft, I'm writing in a very slovenly way: anything to get the outline of the story on paper.
What I really like doing is storytelling, finding the body language that is necessary for the story. And when I'm doing it and it's working, I'm thrilled.
But when I was a little kid, I was always writing stories and illustrating little books that I would create.
If he is a ghost, then it's very disappointing for me, because he is banished in the story, and that could mean that he won't be coming back, and that would be terrible, wouldn't it?
I can't impress enough upon people that if you tell an honest story that people relate to and people believe and invest in, you can do anything.
