Quotes from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“Instinct is the elusive magic that happens when art collides with hard-won craft.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“Because, if you haven’t wrapped your head around this principle, chances are you’ll never sell a story.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“THE SEVEN KEY CHARACTERIZATION VARIABLES Think of these as realms, as areas of potential character illumination. Here they are, in no particular order: Surface affectations and personality—What the world sees and perceives about a character, including quirks, ticks, habits, and visual presentation. Backstory—All that happened in the character’s life before the story begins that conspires to make him who he is now. Character arc—How the character learns lessons and grows (changes) over the course of the story, how she evolves and conquers her most confounding issues. Inner demons and conflicts—The nature of the issues that hold a character back and define his outlook, beliefs, decisions, and actions. Fear of meeting new people, for example, is a demon that definitely compromises one’s life experience. Worldview—An adopted belief system and moral compass; the manifested outcome of backstory and inner demons. Goals and motivations—What drives a character’s decisions and actions, and the belief that the benefits of those decisions and actions outweigh any costs or compromises. Decisions, actions, and behaviors—The ultimate decisions and actions that are the sum of all of the above. Everything about your characters depends on this final variable, and the degree to which the character’s decisions, actions, and behaviors have meaning and impact depends on how well you’ve manipulated the first six variables before, during, and after the moment of decision or action.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“The bar is high. But now you have a ladder.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“As a writer, you are that architect.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“We all select our fates based on the paths we choose.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“Doing a lot of reading is not the prerequisite to writing.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“the president of Goodwill Industries made $800,000 a year.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“The Six Core Competencies do not define or offer a formula. Rather, they define structure driven by criteria for the elements that comprise it.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“Love your scenes, and they’ll love you in return.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“Remember—write this down, it’s critical—nothing fuels a story quite like hope.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“What if that child survived, and the lineage continues to this day, meaning the ancestors of Christ are walking among us?”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“If you're playing God, you need to get it right.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“A clever trick does not a concept make.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“Here's the truth about organic writing: It's just story planning by another name.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“even when we stop typing and leave the house, we remain writers.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“Here’s another analogy. Human beings bring only a handful of facial features to the blueprint of how we look—two eyes, two eyebrows, a nose, a mouth, a pair of cheekbones, and two ears, all pasted onto a somewhat ovular-to-round face. That particular blueprint doesn’t often vary much, either. Interestingly enough, this is about the same number of essential storytelling parts and milestones that each and every story needs to showcase in order to be successful. Now, consider this: With only these eleven variables to work with, ask yourself how often you see two people who look exactly alike. In a crowd of ten thousand faces, you would be able to differentiate each and every one of them, other than a set of twins or two in attendance. Where we humans are concerned, the miracle of originality resides in the Creator, who applies an engineering-driven process—eleven variables— to an artistic outcome. Where art is concerned, there is something to be learned from that.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“[on scene execution] Interesting isn't the point...storytelling momentum and relevance is.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“We get to play God with our stories.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

“Writing is a two-party democracy. To the left are those who write stories from their heart, or according to the other side of the aisle, from the seat of their pants. On the right are those who write stories from a meticulously constructed outline.”
― Larry Brooks, quote from Story Engineering: Character Development, Story Concept, Scene Construction

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Popular quotes

“Just as negative self-paradigms can put limitations on us, positive self-paradigms can bring out the best in us, as the following story about the son of King Louis XVI of France illustrates: King Louis had been taken from his throne and imprisoned. His young son, the prince, was taken by those who dethroned the king. They thought that inasmuch as the king’s son was heir to the throne, if they could destroy him morally, he would never realize the great and grand destiny that life had bestowed upon him. They took him to a community far away, and there they exposed the lad to every filthy and vile thing that life could offer. They exposed him to foods the richness of which would quickly make him a slave to appetite. They used vile language around him constantly. They exposed him to lewd and lusting women. They exposed him to dishonor and distrust. He was surrounded twenty-four hours a day by everything that could drag the soul of a man as low as one could slip. For over six months he had this treatment—but not once did the young lad buckle under pressure. Finally, after intensive temptation, they questioned him. Why had he not submitted himself to these things— why had he not partaken? These things would provide pleasure, satisfy his lusts, and were desirable; they were all his. The boy said, “I cannot do what you ask for I was born to be a king.”
― Sean Covey, quote from The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Teens

“I pushed away my dessert, suddenly no longer hungry. Resentment had a way of filling up your stomach.”
― Marlene Perez, quote from Dead Is the New Black

“The flood of cheap manufactures, for which the people have no need,destroys their industries. They become dependent on this trade and the demand for goods can only be met by enslaving their fellows.”
― Barry Unsworth, quote from Sacred Hunger

“I want my name to mean something after I’m dead.”
― V.C. Andrews, quote from Heaven

“Is it because she’s a challenge to you?” she asked, not looking away. “Because if you’re going out with her because she’s not easy, I swear to God, I will cut you.”
I burst into laughter. “Cut me?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not joking.”
― J. Lynn, quote from Trust in Me

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

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