Quotes About Storytelling

Come Mo aveva detto un giorno, scrivere storie, in fin dei conti, ha un po' a che fare con la magia.

An author can be seen as three things: a storyteller, a teacher or a magician – but the magician, the enchanter is in the ascendant.

Goblins burrowed in the earth, elves sang songs in the trees: those were the obvious wonders of reading, but behind them lay the fundamental marvel that, in stories, words could command things to be. Francis Spufford, The Child That Books Built

I can see why your father has never told you about Capricorn,' said Dustfinger, looking at Mo. 'If I had children I'd rather tell them about nice people too.

Es gab Geschichten, dass der Natternkopf seinem Herold auch ein Herz aus Silber hatte anfertigen lassen, aber Fenoglio war sicher, dass in der Brust des Pfeifers ein menschliches Herz schlug. Nichts war grausamer, als ein Herz aus Fleisch und Blut, weil es wusste, was Schmerzen bereitete.

I'd believe any story at all just so long as it's well told.

She looked inquiringly at Meggie. "Do you like Alice in Wonderland?" "Not particularly," said Meggie, staring at the map. Elinor shook her head at such childish folly and turned back to Dustfinger.

La sete di storie diminuiva se si poteva viverne una?

First, something basic: a storyteller never writes down everything he knows about his characters. There's no need for readers to know everything. Some of it is better kept secret between the author and his creations.

Cornelia Funke

You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain't no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

They were here already, all of them: Dustfinger and Capricorn, Basra and Roxane, Minerva, Violante, the Adderhead...you merely wrote their story, but they didn't like it, and now they're writing it for themselves.

I just planted this story, but it's growing the way it wants to, and everyone expects me to know in advance what kind of flowers it will have!

If I was living in a happier place, said Eggingarde, I might tell stories with happier endings.

ANYONE WHO HAS SKIPPED TO THIS EPILOGUE BEFORE READING THE REST OF THE STORY IS A BIG CHEAT AND SHOULD GO RIGHT BACK TO CHAPTER 1 OR I WILL GET REALLY QUITE UPSET.

Wasn't that what all stories said?You felt it, like a pang in your heart, when something was happening to someone you love

After I'd told her – the mall, the taxi, Cross stroking my hair – she said, 'Did he kiss you?' 'John and Martin totally would have seen that,' I said, and as I felt myself implying the circumstances had prevented our kissing, I thought maybe this was why you told stories to other people – for how their possibilities enlarged in the retelling.

I said, Do you think people in Arkansas are born more interesting than people in other places, or is it Southern storytelling that makes them more interesting? Oh, HIllary. Bill seemed delighted. We're just getting started.

She felt funny, strange, making up lies as quickly and smoothly as if she'd been doing it all her life.

The living owe it to those who no longer can speak to tell their story for them.

You can dramatize your ideas in business or in any other aspect of your life. It's easy

Maltoni concludes her thoughts on the success of TOMS with an insightful nod to the power of this principle: "People remember. And when a message is a mission, they will tell your story to anyone who will hear it—even a stranger at an airport. And by doing that, they become your strongest advocates in marketing your product. . . . The lesson: influence is given."5

From this story it may be seen what the nature of true storytelling is. The value of information does not survive the moment in which it was new. It lives only at that moment; it has to surrender to it completely and explain itself to it without losing any time. A story is different. It does not expend itself. It preserves and concentrates its strength and is capable of releasing it even after a long time.

The storyteller: he is the man who could let the wick of his life be consumed completely by the gentle flame of his story