Quotes About Plot

I came to realize that far more important to me than any plot or conventional sense was the sheer directionality I felt while reading prose, the texture of time as it passed, life's white machine.

A story tells us what happened, but a plot tells us why

Yes, oh dear, yes, the novel tells a story.

Qua story, it can only have one merit: that of making the audience want to know what happens next. And conversely it can only have one fault: that of making the audience not want to know what happens next.

But whereas the story appeals to our curiosity and the plot to our intelligence, the pattern appeals to our aesthetic sense, it causes us to see the book as a whole.

And much of Madness, and more of Sin,And Horror the soul of the plot.

The plots of God are perfect. The Universe is a plot of God.

year. For John Lexman was a maker of cunning plots.

Quién había concebido el plan de asesinarme?, ¿quién había tejido la red en la que debatía como animalillo silvestre?, ¿de quién sería la mano que habría de inmolarme? ¿De la propia Mercedes Negrer?, ¿del rijoso expendedor de Pepsi-Cola?, ¿de los negros superdotados?, ¿de los ordeñadores de la lactaria?

Anything you put in a play -- any speech -- has got to do one of two things: either define character or push the action of the play along.

I do not invent characters. There they are. That's who they are. That's their nature. They talk and they behave the way they want to behave. I don't have a character behaving one way, then a point comes in the play where the person has to either stay or leave. If I had it plotted that the person leaves, then the person leaves. If that's what the person wants to do. I let the person do what the person wants or has to do at the time of the event.

I'm just giving you some spiel, the ludicrous plot of a novel, a story I invented to touch your heart—one-third bullshit, one-third booze, and one-third genuine tenderness, you know the kind of thing.

A conspiracy was formed, led by former enemies in the civil war, leading members of the regime, and even close friends.

the two men agreed on a plan that employed speed and surprise to turn the tables on Antony and trap him.

In fact, his silent foreknowledge of the conspiracy suggests that he was not without sympathy with them

the Romans were regarded as unwanted occupiers and a plot was formed to entrap and destroy the legions.

The plot was betrayed, but Varus could not bring himself to distrust his friendly Germans

What were you going to do with it?" McCain asked. "I just thought it might come in useful." "Were you planning to attack me?" "No. But that's a good idea.

But the thing is, you see -and to be honest, I don't like to mention this- I'm a bit short. There just aren't enough people getting murdered.

The computer, however, had been authorized to receive the message, and Yassen saw three words. KILL ALEX RIDER They were exactly what he had expected.

British TV would disappear into a dot on the screen without murder.

Bradbury would have said his plots are myths and metaphors that tell stories about the human condition. That's what sets him apart from other science-fiction writers: He doesn't write about technology, but about the human heart and psyche.

If you lift the romantic element out of my plots, you still have fully formed mysteries. In the same fashion, if you pull the mystery out of a historical romance, you are left with a perfectly satisfying story.

Whenever I've had to tamper with history for plot purposes, I make sure to mention that in my author's note, and I try to keep such tampering to a bare minimum. I also attempt to keep my characters true to their historical counterparts. This is not always possible, of course.