Quotes from Robert McKee

The music of story is conflict.

Story is metaphor for life, and to be alive is to be in seemingly perpetual conflict.

A rule says, "You must do it this way." A principle says, "This works … and has through all remembered time.

Todo ocurre; todo lo imaginable ocurre. De hecho, también ocurre lo inimaginable.

a convincing impossibility is preferable to an unconvincing possibility.

True character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure - the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation, the truer the choice to the character's essential nature.

Write every day, line by line, page by page, hour by hour. Do this despite fear. For above all else, beyond imagination and skill, what the world asks of you is courage, courage to risk rejection, ridicule and failure. As you follow the quest for stories told with meaning and beauty, study thoughtfully but write boldly. Then, like the hero of the fable, your dance will dazzle the world.

A fine work of art - music, dance, painting, story - has the power to silence the chatter in the mind and lift us to another place.

Do research. Feed your talent. Research not only wins the war on cliche, it's the key to victory over fear and it's cousin, depression.

In a world of lies and liars, an honest work of art is always an act of social responsibility.

When we want mood experiences, we go to concerts or museums. When we want meaningful emotional experience, we go to the storyteller.

If the story you're telling, is the story you're telling, you're in deep shit.

No matter our talent, we all know in the midnight of our souls that 90 percent of what we do is less than our best.

Most of life's actions are within our reach, but decisions take willpower.

while it's true that the unexamined life is not worth living, it's also true that the unlived life isn't worth examining.

Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.

When talented people write badly, it's generally for one of two reasons: Either they're blinded by an idea they feel compelled to prove of they're driven by an emotion they must express. When talented people write well, it is generally for this reason: They're moved by a desire to touch the audience.

In life two negatives don't make a positive. Double negatives turn positive only in math and formal logic. In life things just get worse and worse and worse.

Good story' means something worth telling that the world wants to hear. Finding this is your lonely task...But the love of a good story, of terrific characters and a world driven by your passion, courage, and creative gifts is still not enough. Your goal must be a good story well told.

Boredom is the inner conflict we suffer when we lose desire, when we lack a lacking.

We realize we can't go around saying and doing what we're actually thinking and feeling. If we all did that, life would be a lunatic asylum. Indeed, that's how you know you're talking to a lunatic. Lunatics are those poor souls who have lost their inner communication and so they allow themselves to say and do exactly what they are thinking and feeling and that's why they're mad.

Secure writers don't sell first drafts. They patiently rewrite until the script is as director-ready, as actor-ready as possible. Unfinished work invites tampering, while polished, mature work seals its integrity.

Deus ex machina not only erases all meaning and emotion, it's an insult to the audience. Each of us knows we must choose and act, for better or worse, to determine the meaning of our lives...Deus ex machina is an insult because it is a lie.

Story is metaphor for life and life is lived in time.