Channing Dungey Quotes

Unless the story line carries the scenes, the scenes don't really mean anything.

My conception of it was that in a normal film you have a story with different movements that program, develop, go a little bit off the trunk, come back, and end.

Once you come up with a premise, you have to work out how it all happened. It's a bit like coming up with a spectacular roof design first. Before you can get it up there, you need to build a solid foundation and supporting structure.

The point about a great story is that it's got a beginning, a middle and end.

A novel requires a certain kind of world-building and also a certain kind of closure, ultimately. Whereas with a short story you have this sense that there are hinges that the reader doesn't see.

The trouble with telling a good story is that it invariably reminds the other fellow of a dull one.

There is no other way of writing a novel than to begin at the beginning at to continue to the end.

It's nice to know when you're a part of a story, it's nice to know at least something about the beginning, middle, and end.

Settings are obviously important - and as a writer, you have to respect what was real at the time of the story you're writing. But the real key to success lies in finding the right characters to carry that story.

To be memorable and to have dramatic impact, informational detail must function actively within the dynamic of a story.

What I have in advance are people I want to write about and a problem or problems that I see those people encountering and that I want to explore - it all proceeds sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, and scene by scene.

A story really isn't truly a story until it reaches its climax and conclusion.

I'm not much of a plotter. I start off with an inciting incident, and in classic crime fiction what happens is that all the action flows from that incident. It's very comfy when it all ties up and feels like a complete universe, but my stuff doesn't always work that way.

In a story, you have to have a theme and an angle, you have to have a beginning, middle and an end. You have to have a defining moment and kick it to death. You gotta be able to recognize that, by the way. It probably takes experience.

In each scene, the writer sets up a situation, which brings a conflict as well as either a small victory or a loss at the close of that particular scene.

A book begins with an image or character or situation that I care about deeply.

I try to write something that would interest anybody and keep them turning the page. You must have a plot and good storyline.

Even the most complicated stories start with a very simple premise.

Writing a screenplay is like writing a big puzzle, and so the hardest part, I think, is getting the story.

You can have the greatest characters in the world and write beautifully, but if nothing's happening, the story falls on its face pretty quickly.

I have the 'thing' worked out - the trick or the surprise or the pivotal fact. Then I just start somewhere and let the story work itself out.

The unfolding of a story is both as exciting and as difficult for each and every novel I've written, regardless of time and place.

Everything you write makes you better. But if you really need a tip, here's one: a good story begins in opposition to its ending. That means you work out how it finishes first, and then begin the story as far away from that point - in terms of character development - as you can.

I'm a big believer that the structure of stories should reflect the content of the story.

My only conclusion about structure is that nothing works if you don't have interesting characters and a good story to tell.