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

“Sky, if you’re wondering if I have commitment issues, the answer is no. Someday in the far, far, far away future…like post-college future…when I propose to you…which I will be doing one day because you aren’t getting rid of me…I won’t be marrying you with the hope that our marriage will work out. When you become mine, it’ll be a forever thing. I’ve told you before that the only thing that matters to me with you are the forevers, and I mean that.”
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I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that span, he is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant. Do you understand what I am saying? A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life.

It is hard work to fill one's life with meaning. That I do not think you understand yet. A life filled with meaning is worthy of rest. I want to be worthy of rest when I am no longer here.”
― Chaim Potok, quote from The Chosen

“She craved a presence beside her, solid. Fingertips light at the nape of her neck and a voice meeting hers in the dark. Someone who would wait with an umbrella to walk her home in the rain, and smile like sunshine when he saw her coming. Who would dance with her on her balcony, keep his promises and know her secrets, and make a tiny world wherever he was, with just her and his arms and his whisper and her trust.”
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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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