Quotes About Narrative

The boy in the tree sobs uncontrollably when I tell him about the Hermit and my mother, yet his eyes light up each time I mention Hannah. And every single time he asks, "Taylor, what about the Brigadier who came searching for you that day? Whatever became of him?" I try to explain that the Brigadier is of no importance to my story, but he always shakes his head as if he knows better.

Because people aren't interested in the truth, Dafar. They're interested in what keeps them safe. They're interested in being looked after. They're interested in a tale being spun.

With some stories, you really can't rush things. And it's often best just to sit back and enjoy the journey for what it is.

I began to think that some of us are the designated rememberers. Why do we remember? I don't know. But I think that's why memoir interests us—because we're the ones who pass the stories. --Pat Conroy

She said that if I ever did produce an autobiography I should call it, Exit, Talking. This

Ocupada en darles nombre, se le ha escapado su historia.

Listen, and you will realize that we are made not from cells or from atoms. We are made from stories.

Try not to mention more than three or four characters unless they're vital to the story. If you can't hook them with four characters you won't be able to do it with five or six.

Wars in history invariably become wars of history.

reeducating and "re-righting" history

That seemed to be the way of the world these days; get a few basic details of an event or incident, then craft a narrative around it. It was not about spreading information, but getting clicks and attention.

He was struck by the sensation she'd made it happen in some way, that his life was simply a story the old woman was making up in her head.

we become the stories we tell ourselves

Had simply everyone rewritten history to suit his prejudices? Was most of it, perhaps all of it, a myth? If so, what was real?

The truth is no excuse for a boring story".

To be known for one's saddest story is not the road to notoriety anyone would willingly choose.

Every real story is a never ending story.

But that is another story and shall be told another time.

If you stop to think about it, you'll have to admit that all the stories in the world consist essentially of twenty-six letters. The letters are always the same, only the arrangement varies. From letters words are formed, from words sentences, from sentences chapters, and from chapters stories.

A story can be new and yet tell about olden times. The past comes into existence with the story.

Obama had always to field demands from some blacks to be blacker, and the wish of many whites to whitewash the story of American race and politics.

Although Zilpha Elaw sought to save souls, not necessarily to reform society, she did suffuse her narrative with running commentary on the racism and sexism that deeply permeated her era [The Second Great Awakening]. She wrote of whites "who readily sacrifice their intelligence to their prejudices," and of "men whose whimas are law" in tne church.

And anyway, when was a journal ever honest? "It either tells a lot of truths to cover a single lie," he said, "or a lot of lies to cover a single truth.

The purpose of page one is to convince the reader to read page two. The purpose of page two is to convince the reader to read page three, and so on and so on.