Brian Friel Quotes

I think I'm good at metaphors and descriptions. Plot doesn't come naturally to me, so I work really hard at it.

Well, to be honest I think I'm a better short story writer than a novelist. Novels I find very hard, hours and hours, weeks and weeks, of conscious thought - whereas short stories slip out painlessly in a few days.

When I really have to push and grope and scratch and claw to make a story work, that's a telltale sign that maybe something conceptually isn't right.

You don't idea your way into a plot but plot your way into an idea.

Sometimes, I have themes that interest me or that touch on larger issues but, really, I'm just trying to figure out the plot, or how the characters work. I'm trying to make the best story I possibly can.

I suspect there are two kinds of novelists. Those who have a point of view and have something to say and then write a novel in order to say that thing, and those of us who write the book in order to find out what we think about that thing.

I write short stories. I write every day.

I tend not to know what the plot is or the story is or even the theme. Those things come later, for me.

It's all about letting the story take over.

I think that's what fiction writing is actually all about. It's about trying to solve problems in creative ways.

I've tried to write deep and serious. I spent years working to write a story that would make my writing group cry.

I am also working on a couple of short stories for anthologies. This is new to me and I'm enjoying it.

Once I started writing novels, I understood how hard it was to write really good short stories.

When you're writing a novel - at least the way I write is I work from what I would call 'emotional atmosphere,' ambiance to ambiance.

I get the beginning. I get the end. Then I write the middle. That's how I do it.

To write a story, I think you really have to open yourself up to the world.

It's not easy to tell a story about writers and make that feel like a complete story and an interesting story.

Plot is not my forte. It's like I have to live in my head in the book for a while before I figure out what the story is... My process is a bit messier.

I don't think I'm a natural novelist. Plot is definitely one of my weaker points. I've been working on it a long time, and it's not getting much better.

Normally I start with a plot, and write a synopsis, and the ideas come from the construction.

Writing a story or a novel is one way of discovering sequence in experience, of stumbling upon cause and effect in the happenings of a writer's own life.

But at the same time, I have trouble keeping things out of books, which is why I don't write short stories because they turn into novels.

The process of writing a story isn't about fair. It's about getting to the heart of your story, getting to the truth of it. It transcends ideals of fair and unfair, right and wrong.

I'm always writing across the same themes. But with short stories, I'm doing something different than with novels. In some ways, they're coming from a much deeper place.

If the script is telling the story well, that is your inspiration, and you do not need to go somewhere else.