George R. R. Martin Quotes

If we can continue to tell stories where fans don't know what will happen next, I think that will be a plus in this 'Divas Revolution.'

I like the idea of shows where I don't know where I'll be at the end of the season.

The problem in cinema is that you can never predict what will happen.

I love to go into a movie and have no idea what's going to happen in it.

You don’t know what’s going to happen in the end, and that’s what the best plays are.

I like people to be surprised by the turn of events. I don't want things just to be pat and formulaic. If there's some sort of internal combustion in the character or a desire to change the way things are going, that makes for conflict, which is the essence of drama.

I like to be surprised. Fresh implications and plot twists erupt as a story unfolds. Characters develop backgrounds, adding depth and feeling. Writing feels like exploring.

On a TV show, you don't know where the character is going.

When I see an image in my head that compels me, where there's this mystery about what's going to happen next or could happen next, I'll be intrigued. There are so many scripts that you read, and you know exactly what's going to happen, and there aren't too many where you can't tell within the first 20 pages where it's going.

It's funny: I like being surprised as a reader, so it's difficult for me to spoil my own stuff.

I like a book better if I can't predict what's going to happen.

I hate to go to movies or watch a TV show and know the ending within 15 minutes.

When I read a book, I like to be surprised. I don't want to read the same genre formula that I've read a hundred times before.

'Homeland' does have that ability to tear the rug out from under you.

When the narrator says, 'This is a story without surprises,' most of the time, this is not what happens.

I think to truly not know what to expect out of the story - to create a world where nothing is guaranteed - is sort of the backbone of 'Atlanta.'

My desire as a storyteller is to always catch the readers off guard; to give them something they aren't expecting, and take them in a direction that is satisfying in the here and non.

It's always very important to me to try to create a story that feels unpredictable. You can't jump ahead and see what's coming, but at the end, when you've watched the whole thing, it all feels inevitable.

The writers are very good about misdirection and changeups, and that's what's great about it. We always think we know what's going to happen and then they throw a curveball that you don't see coming.

My writing has always been what you call 'narrative fiction' in the sense that it's got very strong plots and twists at the end.

That's how you get surprises, because what movies are all about is surprises.

We never really know what's around the corner when we're filming - what turn a story will take, what a character will do or say to surprise us, how the events in the world will impact our story.

I don't know what's going to happen in life, so I don't think it's fair that I know what's going to happen in 'Homeland.'

I'm one of those crazy people, if I'm watching the trailer for a movie and I'm really excited by it, I'll turn it off because I don't want to know anything. I want to be surprised because I love that more than knowing anything.

Fiction demands structures and recognizable shapes. Big surprises only draw attention to the writer's hand.