Because, if you haven’t wrapped your head around this principle, chances are you’ll never sell a story.

If you’ve ever wondered why some writers who, in your humble opinion, don’t write as well as you do yet are rich and famous while you struggle onward, this is the reason. They are great directors.

Show enough backstory to allow the reader to glean and make assumptions about what remains behind the curtain of time, yet continues to influence the character’s worldview, attitudes, decisions, and actions.

In the life of a real writer, nothing is ever lost, no word you write is a waste of your time or energy.

We need to break free from the habits of mind and behavior, to discover the possibilities of who we can become.

Remember, the essence of storytelling demands that we place our main characters on a path. A quest with something at stake, with something to do, to achieve, to learn, and to change.

Men leave women for other women. Women leave men for another way of life.

The bar is high. But now you have a ladder.

[on scene execution] Interesting isn't the point...storytelling momentum and relevance is.

A clever trick does not a concept make.