Good Storytelling Quotes

You have to think about good storytelling and characters first. Then hopefully, the rest of that stuff will follow, some more than others. But if you don't have a good film and strong characters, then you don't have anything down the road. ~ Pete Docter

Good storytelling is one thing rural whites and Indians have in common. But native Americans have learned through harsh necessity that people who survive encroachment by another culture need story to survive. And a storytelling tradition is something Plains people share with both ancient and contemporary monks; we learn our ways of being and reinforce our values by telling tales about each other. ~ Kathleen Norris

I look for really great characters. I say great because as long as they're really good, there's something you can do. And really good storytelling. And when people ask me what the story is, I say it's really several stories really. They're intermeshed. ~ Matt Dillon

Good storytelling is humanity's great connector, and it just might keep the world from eating itself. ~ James Genn

Specificity is what makes good storytelling, and good storytelling is what makes money, and making money is then what encourages new producers to invest in different stories about Asians. ~ Constance Wu

The most amazing thing for me is that every single person who sees a movie, not necessarily one of my movies, brings a whole set of unique experiences. Now, through careful manipulation and good storytelling, you can get everybody to clap at the same time, to hopefully laugh at the same time, and to be afraid at the same time. ~ Steven Spielberg

Everybody loves a good story, but good storytelling doesn't come easy to everybody. It's a skill that takes a lifetime to master. So study the great stories and then go find some of your own. Your stories will get better the more you tell them. ~ Austin Kleon

Consistent contentment rarely makes for good storytelling. ~ Rebecca Serle

Good content isn't about good storytelling. It's about telling a true story well. ~ Ann Handley MarketingProfs

Outside Styx's apartment was not the first time Rochester and I had met, or would it be the last. We first encountered each other at Haworth House in Yorkshire when my mind was young and the barrier between reality and make-believe had not yet hardened into the shell that cocoons us in adult life. The barrier was soft, pliable and, for a moment, thanks to the kindness of a stranger and the power of a good storytelling voice, I made the short journey
and returned. ~ Jasper Fforde

Through careful manipulation and good storytelling, you can get everybody to clap at the same time, to hopefully laugh at the same time, and to be afraid at the same time. But you can't get everybody to interpret the result in the same Way. And that's thrilling to know – that everybody will see it differently. ~ Steven Spielberg

Sometimes I just think that there are more things to be said to make the audience understand what I'm trying to do more. When I'm singing, I don't want you to just hear the melody. I want you to relive the story, because most of the songs have pretty good storytelling. ~ B.B. King

Shakespeare is repeated around the world in different languages, just because it's good storytelling. ~ Cary Fukunaga

Good storytelling for me is not so much technical expertise, which I know is applauded often; it's actually freshness of approach. It does mean you sometimes stumble and fall and make a horrible mess of things in seeking that freshness, but you should always keep trying to do that. ~ Danny Boyle

To me good storytelling is about journeys. It's about people's journeys, people's discoveries and how they deal with those discoveries; circumstances that put people in different situations. ~ Scott Cohen

Nothing unleashes curiosity in an audience like good storytelling. Nothing inspires storytelling, in turn, like the results of curiosity. ~ Brian Grazer

The kind of people that love 'The Rocketeer' are the kind of people that love good storytelling and innocence and a better world, so to speak, so they're almost always nice people to bump into. ~ Billy Campbell

I think it's always a challenge when you're telling a story that people know. But hopefully, good storytelling - well, there's two things. One is, you definitely have to have surprises and changes so that people are - you keep them interested, you take them down roads that they didn't expect and give them suspense and surprise. ~ Kimberly Peirce

There's no harmony in most people in a way, and I'm attracted to it, and I think it makes for good storytelling. ~ Greg Kinnear

Your first film is always your best film, in a way. There's something about your first film that you never ever get back to, but you should always try. It's that slight sense of not knowing what you're doing, because the technical skills you learn - especially if you have a film that works, that has some kind of success - are beguiling. The temptation is to use them again, and they're not necessarily good storytelling techniques. ~ Danny Boyle

I just hope that readers and publishers continue to appreciate good writing and good storytelling in all their various forms. And I hope that people continue to read books, even though we have so many other options for entertainment. ~ Karen Thompson Walker

The L Word reaffirmed that good storytelling has a way of creating community. Fans everywhere have been connecting with each other online, in public and at home-viewing parties. ~ Jennifer Beals

It was unpredictable, good storytelling that brought you back each week. ~ Ted Shackelford

If I really knew how to do good storytelling, I would be a writer. Mystery is not a huge part of it ... It's tension, it's relationships. I think it's a struggle. ~ Scott Cohen

Good storytelling is harder than it sounds, but the easy part is that everyone has the ability to do it ... Tap into it. ~ Peter Guber

While I don't like violent programs per se, I do like good storytelling, which made me a fan of shows like Breaking Bad and American Horror Story. ~ Hank Stuever

A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled. ~ Raymond Chandler

Confession time: I doubt I would ever have picked up one of Marjorie's books, had I not met her in person. The reason is they're categorized as Romances, which is where they are shelved in bookstores. Though I have no justification for avoiding it, the romance section is an area in bookstores I seldom wander into. Her novels also have traditional-looking romance book covers, which are occasionally a bit off-putting to us mighty manly men.

Then again, who knows? I don't carry many biases where good storytelling is concerned. I'm willing to find it anywhere, as too many of my friends will attest, when I try to drag them to wonderful movies that they aren't eager to go to, simply because they fall under the chick-flick rubric. So, in any case, I'm glad I did meet Marjorie Liu in person, because it would have been a shame to miss out on the work of an author this talented due to whatever degree of cultural prejudices I might still possess. I trust you who read this won't make the same mistake. ~ Bill Willingham

Good storytelling appeals to me - good writing. ~ Sanaa Lathan

I'm not really devoted or specified towards any specific genre at all. I really like it all. There's good storytelling in all the genres, you know. I just want to tell good stories and do good work. ~ Angela Bettis

Few people would dream of hiring a contractor to build them a house and expect it to be built to a safe standard only 85 percent of the time; similarly, few people would want to eat out in a restaurant where only 85 percent of the meals were safe to eat. Why then do we accept such sloppiness in road safety, where a situation in which 85 percent of drivers going the speed limit is deemed to be good enough? ~ Neil Arason

Societies are composed of individuals and are good only insofar as they help individuals to realize their potentialities and to lead a happy and creative life. ~ Aldous Huxley

Sometimes it amazed him. Lanky Thom with his white hair and mustaches, who had been a Queen's lover once, and more willingly than himself, not to mention more than a lover, if you believed half he said. Square-jawed Harnan with that tattoo on his cheek and more elsewhere, who had been a soldier all his life. Juilin with his bamboo staff and his sword-breaker on his hip, who thought himself as good as any lord even if the idea of carrying a sword himself still made him uneasy, and fat Vanin, who made Juilin look a bootlicker by comparison. Skinny Fergin, and Gorderan, nearly as wide in the shoulders as Perrin, and Metwyn, whose pale Cairhienin face still looked like a boy's despite being years older than Mat. Some of them followed Mat Cauthon because they thought he was lucky, because his luck might keep them alive when the swords were out, and some for reasons he was not really sure of, but they followed. Not even Thom had ever more than protested an order of his. Maybe Renaile had been more than luck. Maybe his being ta'veren did more than dump him in the-middle of trouble. Suddenly he felt... responsible... for these men. It was an uncomfortable feeling. Mat Cauthon and responsibility did not go together. It was unnatural. ~ Robert Jordan

She glanced in the rearview mirror, as if she might see Mouse sitting up instead of lying flat. "I can't imagine Blake living through the night," she confessed. "If you can see him from where you are right now, tell him Livia did a good job. ~ Debra Anastasia

Ultimately evil is done not so much by evil people, but by good people who do not know themselves and who do not probe deeply. ~ Reinhold Niebuhr

Can you stand a little closer?" "Hmm?" "You smell good. I like to smell you. ~ Nora Roberts

Ever since Hugo Waverly had returned to London, he had been keeping on eye on Cedric's sisters, particularly Horatia. Waverly had a way of creating collateral damage and Lucien would do anything to keep these innocent ladies safe. But she mustn't know he was watching over her. He'd spent the last six years being outwardly cold to her, praying she'd stop gazing at him in that sweet, loving way of hers.
It was cruel of him, yes, but if he did not create some distance, he'd have had her on her back beneath him. She was too good a woman for that, and he was far too wicked to be worthy of her. Rather like a demon falling for an angel.

-Lucien's thoughts. His Wicked Seduction (The League of Rogue's book 2) ~ Lauren Smith

Honesty, good intentions and industry, you will have of course. Without these your career would soon end with the loss of your good name. But you must be ambitious to be a good deal more. Webb Hayes, his son, went on to found what had become the Union Carbide Corporation. ~ Rutherford B. Hayes

I got into playing the jazz. I played jazz for a good while. I did the popular stuff first. You got the "Twelfth Street Rag" and those kinds of things. Then I got to hanging around with a bunch of guys starting to playing jazz. We'd go from one place to the other and take our instruments, just perform for free. ~ Papa John Creach

You know how they say the path to hell is paved with good intentions? Well, maybe the path to heaven is paved with bad ones. ~ Jake Coburn

I wrote music. I was in a hardcore band when I was 14, and I wasn't good enough to play anyone else's songs, so I had to write my own. ~ Dito Montiel

Fear is a self-protection we use to insulate ourselves from hurt by pulling back. Anger is self-protection we use to insulate ourselves from hurt by striking out. In both instances the answer is to face and forgive (more on forgiveness ahead) the hurt that expresses itself in fear or anger or both. How much good is left undone by failing to act like a quality man and conquer your fears? How much damage is suffered by those you love when you fail to act like a quality man and conquer your anger? ~ James MacDonald

Lads, I forgot to tell you. Naya don't like good music because she's a feminist.'
'What's a feminist?' Tyse asks.
'It's like a chick who blames all of her mental problems on dudes,' Jimmy explains. 'But not even on specific dudes, just, like, the idea of dudes. It's fucked up. And it's ironic, cos feminists usually look like dudes themselves.'
'But Naya doesn't look like a dude.'
'Aww, thanks Tyse,' Naya says. 'James has given you a horribly inaccurate definition of a feminist, but he has ably demonstrated why we exist. Unfortunately, he's not the only entitled male with no respect for women. ~ Brendan Lawley

What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute. ~ Andrew Jackson

At 83 Shaw's mind was perhaps not quite as good as it used to be, but it was still better than anyone else's. ~ Alexander Woollcott

Tears and sorrows and losses are a part of what must be experienced in this present state of life: some for our manifest good, and ail, therefore, it is trusted, for our good concealed;
for our final and greatest good. ~ Leigh Hunt

Leadership responsibility: If you own a biz, you're the head of the org. Good or bad, your company will LOOK and ACT like you do. ~ Dave Ramsey

My golf score is really bad. I don't know. I'm definitely not a good golfer. Off the tee box, I can drive it about 275, and I'm in the fairway about 99% of the time. It's my next shot that needs work. ~ Jason Aldean

Any good music must be an innovation. ~ Les Baxter

And before long , the msuic , the views rushing past the window , my fathers voice and the narrow cobblestone streets all merged into one , and it seemed to me that while we would never find answers to these fundamental questions , it was good for us to ask them anyway .
pg. 284 ~ Orhan Pamuk

I'm always worried about the sitter - are they cold, are they hot, are they comfortable? Photography today is so accurate and so good that it's really so much easier just to take photographs and work from them. ~ Paul Emsley

By that thinking, surely she was not bad Luck, but Good, undefined. ~ J.D. Lakey

Well, it's always, though, safer in politics to avoid risk. To just kind of go along with the status quo. But I didn't get into government to do the safe and easy things. A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not why the ship is built. Politics isn't just a game of competing interests and clashing parties. The people of America expect us to seek public office and to serve for the right reasons. And the right reason is to challenge the status quo and to serve the common good. ~ Sarah Palin

Through each passage and each season, may you trust the goodness f life. ~ Charlene Costanzo

People recognize me all the time now, and there's lots of autograph hunting and smiling. But then I get to play gigs, which are amazing. It's a good job. ~ Lily Allen

Tell me what happened."
"He was here," I said, hoarse. "He lit the can on fire and took the extinguisher nearby. I ran to the back to get the other and he pushed one of the shelves over on me."
The muscles in Holt's jaw clenched and flexed beneath the stubble that lined his face.
"Do you ever shave?" I wondered out loud.
He smiled and rubbed at the gruffness. "I just trim it."
I nodded.
"Do you like it?" he asked.
Once again, I touched him, brazenly running my hand along his jaw. It was soft and rough at the same time - the perfect balance. "Yeah, I do."
"Good to know," he said, taking my hand, linking our fingers together, and then his face grew serious again.
"Obviously, I avoided the shelf."
"Did you get a look at his face?" I cringed at the hopefulness in his voice.
"No," I admitted. "I tried, but he kicked me."
His eyes went murderous. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.
"He. Kicked. You," he ground out, making each word into a pointed sentence.
This time I kept my mouth shut.
"Where?" he demanded.
I wasn't going to reply, but his eyes narrowed and I knew he would eventually make me tell him. I was going to have to tell the cops anyway. Weariness floated over me at the thought of enduring yet another one of their hours-long interrogations.
I lifted my wrist, the bandage just dangling from the area now, not covering or protecting a thing.
The waves of hatred that roll ~ Cambria Hebert

I see the carpet reflecting that narratological structure of the storytelling, with Scheherazade as the outside frame story on the outside, with the stories woven on the inside. It's also demonstrative of the infinity of it, with no beginning and no end. The carpet is also a kind of metonym for cinema, this idea that the flat surface carries a terrific depth of imaginative field while remaining totally flat. ~ Marina Warner

I was feeding my need to be submissive to a great man since it has been so long since I had the privilege. That's what I missed most about Bradley; the joy I felt catering to someone who took good care of me emotionally, physically, and sexually. He deserved for me to cook, clean, and serve him. I ~ Jessica N. Watkins

Never expect justice in this world. That is not part of God's plan. Everybody thinks that if they don't get it, they're some kind of odd man out. And it's not true. Nobody gets justice - people just get good luck or bad luck. ~ Orson Welles

I feel very strongly that change is good because it stirs up the system. ~ Ann Richards