Plot Quotes - Page 2

• A life without purpose is like a novel without a plot. It wanders all over the place, is hard to follow, and in the end, doesn't get particularly good reviews.

  Mardy Grothe

  Purpose, Ends, Reviews

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• Plot and character are virtually the same thing.

  Daniel Keys Moran

  Writing, Character

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• Once somebody's aware of a plot, it's like a bone sticking out. If it breaks through the skin, it's very ugly.

  Louis Auchincloss

  Break Through, Skins, Ugly

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• The real story is not the plot, but how the characters unfold by it.

  Vanna Bonta

  Real, Character, Stories

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• Character is half the reason we read. We're excited because of the plot, but we care because of the characters.

  Patrick Rothfuss

  Character, Half, Care

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• Think of it as the Doorway of No Return. The feeling must be that your lead character, once she passes through, cannot go home again until the major problem of the plot is solved.

  James Scott Bell

  Home, Character, Thinking

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• There is not one big cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.

  Anais Nin

  Inspirational, Life, Book

  The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1, 1931-1934.

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• Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR per G.G., CHIEF OF ORDNANCE

  Mark Twain

  Order, Narrative, Moral

  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn "Notice" (1884)

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• I feel that discussing story-writing in terms of plot, character, and theme is like trying to describe the expression on a face by saying where the eyes, nose, and mouth are.

  Flannery O'Connor

  Character, Eye, Writing

  Flannery O'Connor (1969). “Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose”, p.89, Macmillan

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• The whole magic of a plot requires that somebody be impeded from getting something over with.

  Renata Adler

  Magic, Whole

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• Conspiracy! Intrigue! A rapidly thickening plot! Add some bestiality and a lecherous priest and I'd say you have the beginnings of a beautiful novel.

  Marquis de Sade

  Beautiful, Add, Conspiracy

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• The person you are (in total, at that moment in time) is what creates the story you're writing. It's infused in every piece of punctuation, in the plot, in the most minor character who crosses the page. It's all your voice.

  Victor LaValle

  Writing, Character, Voice

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• When the reader and one narrator know something the other narrator does not, the opportunities for suspense and plot development and the shifting of reader sympathies get really interesting.

  Sara Zarr

  Opportunity, Interesting, Suspense

  "Teen book club: Cat Clarke interviews Sara Zarr". Interview with Cat Clarke, www.theguardian.com. October 19, 2012.

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• In a novel, the biggest symbiosis exists between plot and character. In a song, it would be the lyrics and the melody.

  Jesse Michaels

  Song, Character, Would Be

  Source: therumpus.net

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• Character is the plot in many ways

  Junot Diaz

  Character, Way

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• This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

  William Shakespeare

  Blessed, Precious Stones, Paradise On Earth

  1595 John of Gaunt. Richard II, act 2, sc.1, l.40-50.

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• I plot as I go. Many novelists write an outline that has almost as many pages as their ultimate book. Others knock out a brief synopsis... Do what is comfortable. If you have to plot out every move your characters make, so be it. Just make sure there is a plausible purpose behind their machinations. A good reader can smell a phony plot a block away.

  Clive Cussler

  Block, Moving, Book

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• I don't really know what an adverb is. A dangling participle? That sounds really rude. I don't know what character is, really. Plot seems vaguely juvenile to me. It's all about language, it's all about how you apply it to the page.

  Colum McCann

  Character, Rude, Sound

  "Colum McCann: a life in writing" by Hermione Hoby, www.theguardian.com. May 25, 2013.

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• Life is replete with comedy, drama, horror, suspense, tragedy, romance, mystery, fantasy and a good dose of fiction. While at times the plot may seem to be lacking, the special effects alone are well worth the price of admission.

  Derek R. Audette

  Life, Drama, Romance

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• I would love to travel to the future to plot out some things so there's no more guess work.

  Len Wiseman

  "Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, & Jessica Biel Discuss ‘Total Recall’". Interview with Tiffany Rose, screenrant.com. August 07, 2012.

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• There's also something happening in television similar to what happened in the '80s, when people stopped taking so many drugs and wanted to hear real instruments in music again. I think people want plot, story and characters. Those are more important than having a big star.

  Jessica Pare

  Stars, Real, Character

  Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com

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• The reason I collect good ideas is because plots themselves are very difficult indeed to come by.

  Roald Dahl

  Ideas, Reason, Difficult

  Roald Dahl (2017). “The Roald Dahl Treasury”, p.560, Penguin UK

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• I always try to tell a good story, one with a compelling plot that will keep the pages turning. That is my first and primary goal. Sometimes I can tackle an issue-homelessness, tobacco litigation, insurance fraud, the death penalty-and wrap a good story around it.

  John Grisham

  Pages Turning, Issues, Goal

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• To honor life, we must be willing to grow through what we don't know yet, and outgrow what we know no longer fits us. We must be willing to give in to the process, moment by moment, realizing a new plot may be unfolding.

  Iyanla Vanzant

  Giving, Honor, May

  FaceBook post by Iyanla Vanzant from Jan 20, 2016

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• Plot makes the character just as history makes the man.

  Thomas Steinbeck

  Character, Men, He Man

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