Horror fiction seems to spawn more dumbass 'rules' than any other kind of writing, and one of the dumbest is the assumed 'requirement' of a twist ending, going all the way back to H.H. Munro. This story is also the result of a long rumination on how ...
One of the things we've always tried to do is help others with our story. Whether it's with the infertility issues, whether it's with the breast cancer, we said we're gonna turn these negatives into positives. And if we can help others by sharing our...
The comic book is not the book. the graphic novel is not the novel. The same, of course, is true of films and television. When we move a story from one medium to another, no matter how faithful we attempt to be, some changes are inevitable. Each medi...
I think that there must be a point of self-immersion in a story that is a point of no return. You get far enough in that the story has really touched you to the core and deeply troubled you and made you unhappy and fearful, and then how do you get ou...
If you're a writer, write. You just keep writing. And if you're a filmmaker, you keep doing what you can to keep telling your stories; you don't stay on the one. Keep moving forward and doing what you can to tell whatever story you can tell, be it vi...
God is after the bigger picture of your life. He is writing your story. I'm about to say something that may seem antithetical to this book, but need you to hear this: your story has far more to do with finding God's unique calling and purpose for you...
I remember meeting President Obama and looking at him, thinking, 'Damn, this dude is really our president. He really went out and did it!' If you look at stories like that, and other stories that I'm sure you could compare to, it's just about freeing...
There are very few works of fiction that take you inside the heads of all characters. I tell my writing students that one of the most important questions to ask yourself when you begin writing a story is this: Whose story is it? You need to make a co...
[from trailer] Augustus Waters: What's your story? Hazel Grace Lancaster: I was diagnosed when I was 13... Augustus Waters: No no no, Your real story. Hazel Grace Lancaster: I am quite unextraordinary. Augustus Waters: I reject that.
Idgie Threadgoode: There's so many [voice breaking] Idgie Threadgoode: things I want to say to you. Ruth: No, I love your stories. Tell me a story, Idgie. [pause] Ruth: Go on you ol' Bee Charmer, tell me a good tall tale.
Narrator: For the first time in his life, Grenouille realized that he had no smell of his own. He realized that all his life he had been a nobody to everyone. What he now felt was the fear of his own oblivion. It was a though he did not exist.
Alien toys: You have saved our lives. We are eternally grateful. Mrs. Potato Head: You saved their lives? My hero! They're so adorable. Let's adopt them! Alien toys: [Gathering around Mr. Potato Head] Daddy!
Woody: Here's your list of things to do while I'm gone: batteries need to be changed. Toys at the bottom of the chest need to be rotated. Oh, and make sure everyone attends Mr. Spell's seminar on what to do if you or part of you is swallowed. Okay? O...
Woody: Jessie, let go of the plane! Jessie: What? Are you crazy? Woody: Just pretend it's the final episode of "Woody's Roundup". Jessie: But it was cancelled! We never saw if you made it! Woody: Well, then, let's find out together!
[in "Woody's Roundup" Jessie is trying to extinguish a dynamite fuse] Stinky Pete the Prospector: You're just fannin' the flames, Jessie. It takes brains to put out that fire. [sits on the fuse, then jumps right back up] Stinky Pete the Prospector: Y...
Joe Turner: Just look around. They've got it. That's where they ship from. They've got all of it. Higgins: What? What did you do? Joe Turner: I told them a story. You play games, I told them a story.
The story being told in 'Star Wars' is a classic one. Every few hundred years, the story is retold because we have a tendency to do the same things over and over again. Power corrupts, and when you're in charge, you start doing things that you think ...
I started writing short stories. I tried writing horror, mystery, science fiction. I joined a little critique group here in town and ran my stories past them. After about three years, I tackled my first novel, Subterranean. It took me 11 months to wr...
Some of you may know my story: How for nineteen years, I worked as a manager for a tire plant in Alabama. And some of you may have lived a similar story: After nearly two decades of hard, proud work, I found out that I was making significantly less m...
My mom used to tell me stories at night, read books to me - and I read 'em over and over and over again. And you know what I learned from that? I went back and looked at everything - Why do I like reading the same stories over and over and over again...
Will Bloom: In telling the story of my father's life, it's impossible to separate fact from fiction, the man from the myth. The best I can do is to tell it the way he told me. It doesn't always make sense and most of it never happened... but that's w...
