Quotes About Storytelling

By the time I wrote my memoir, 'Men We Reaped,' I had been running from writing it for a long time. When the events in the book were happening, I knew I'd probably write about them one day. I didn't want to. I'd studied fiction, and I was committed to establishing myself as a fiction writer first.

I went to Princeton to major in comparative literature. I never went to film school, but I studied storytelling across mediums - poems, literature, film, and journalism.

I always say I thought I was making this exciting action movie but I actually always end up making character studies. Every single one.

I have nothing against these big CGI movies, but there are not enough of the other ones - the ones with stories about character that have a beginning, a middle and an end. I said that to a couple of studio heads and they said, 'That's novel.'

Of all studios that should be doing 2-D animation, it should be Disney.

I'm a storyteller, and I have really good material to work with: I've been studying magic and the occult since about 1983.

It doesn't feel like work. Yes, I have days that are difficult, but I'm sitting in a chair making up stories. It's what I did for fun as a kid, whether with Barbies or stuffed animals.

There has to be the right pacing of images to tell the story. I'm always stunned at how little you can put in.

Music, dance sequences, action stunts are key parts in a commercial film but there has to be relatable content as well.

It's not stupid TV, it's not a reality program. It actually is complex. There's many layers to 'Heroes.'

I think when people have the freedom to tell their own story rather than trying to be specific to a certain design or style, there's more freedom, and it ends up feeling more like home. Those spaces we see in magazines and on the Internet are beautiful, but if there's not that story there, then it's going to lack that feeling of home.

Atanu is one of my favourite directors. His script, style of storytelling and characterisation are always very different.

I definitely am a performer, and there are different styles of stand-up; I mean, some people are writers and they get onstage to get jokes out, and that's definitely not what I do. I like to just go up and, if I'm telling a story about someone, I'll play his or her part.

Do the story in the way it really demands to be done, which may mean using several different styles or only one style; but it's still about respecting the story.

The books I love most are the ones that combine some sort of gripping story with really beautiful or stylish writing. Some of my favorites are 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy, 'The Virgin Suicides' by Jeffrey Eugenides, 'The Interpreter of Maladies' by Jhumpa Lahiri, and 'Blindness' by Jose Saramago.

When you write a story, it just flows and you don't control it. It's subconscious.

Someday, I'd like to sit down with a small group of people, in a relaxed environment, and make a film that feels more independent. That way we can be a little more free in terms of storytelling and subject.

A great story poorly told doesn't do anybody any good at all, and nobody wants to hear it, and nobody wants to read it. The craft of it is really more important than the subject matter.

That's what storytelling is. It's excising the demons and taking a look at the hard subjects.

I look for subjects who have stories to tell - who are looking to tell something.

While it's really hard to do, at the same time, I'm escaping my body, which I really want to do. I'm living someone else's life. I get very intensely into the story, into the interviews and the research. I'm experiencing things along with my subjects. I have a freedom I don't have in my physical life.

Film-makers are greedy people - we want good stories and good subjects.

Horror movies can be very interesting because they can deal with intangible subjects that are full of emotion.

I really love picking up subjects where people say, 'How is this going to work?' and trying to find a way to make it work because every story needs to be told.