Richard Russo Quotes

If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.

Humans know when it's not a good story. Unless you do this for a living, you may not know exactly why you don't like a story, but you can't fool an audience ever. They know when you have it and they know when you don't.

Each story tells me how to write it, but not the one afterwards.

Stories work, if they have a beginning, middle and end.

Stop trying to write sentences and start trying to write stories.

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

The art of storytelling is in development, not fact sheets. There are posts you have to hammer into the ground from the start just to get going, but if they don't hold up the house you build, you can change them or take them out.

I'm actually quite critical of the storytelling theme. I think all the storytellers are not storytellers.

'The Names' is planned as a nine-part series. I have a kind of road map: I know the final scene of episode nine. But as to exactly how we get there, what detours or horrible accidents we might have to pass through, I like to keep that a little fluid.

You can't tell a story linearly if you want people to understand.

I think my sensibilities about storytelling and character just automatically come into play when I'm trying to work on any kind of narrative. For me, it doesn't really matter what the source of the narrative is. I will be looking for ways to make it into an intriguing story with empathetic characters.

When I was asked to come over to the States, I thought to myself, 'What the Americans are very good at doing is creating stories with strong movement and plots that carry the movie as it goes along.'

When well told, a story captured the subtle movement of change. If a novel was a map of a country, a story was the bright silver pin that marked the crossroads.

It's all still about having a good story. You have to have a good story as your anchor, as your main focus. So for me, personally, I just like to concentrate on writing the best book I can, and if there's other stuff that goes along with it, that's awesome, as long as the story is central.

A good story is like a bitter pill, with the sugar coating inside of it.

You just have to go with a good story and a script that you like and people that you like to work with.

A strong theme is always running through a well-told story.

When you're telling a story, you've got to give details.

The story is the first thing and the last thing.

Songwriters are expanding time rather than compressing time. My short stories tend to be old fashioned, with a beginning, middle and end.

I want to do film and TV. I want to make good stories. I want to write; I want to be more involved.

All stories have a beginning, a middle and an ending, and if they're any good, the ending is a beginning.

Because I come from the theater, I use the images of the theater and of movies a great deal when I write. I see the story in my head. I have to break down the outline of a story first. I have to know where I'm going. Usually I have a good beginning and a good ending, and then I think, "Now I have to find my way through it."

The inciting incident is how you get (characters) to do something. It's the doorway through which they can't return, you know. The story takes care of the rest.

Every story teaches me how to write it. Unfortunately, it doesn't teach me how to write the next one.