When we want mood experiences, we go to concerts or museums. When we want meaningful emotional experience, we go to the storyteller.

Given the choice between trivial material brilliantly told versus profound material badly told, an audience will always choose the trivial told brilliantly.

Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules. Rebellious, unschooled writers break rules. Artists master the form.

Influence is just persuasion in slow motion.

To get the truth, you want to get your own heart to pound while you write.

Of all the reasons for wanting to write, the only one that nurtures us through time is love of the work itself.

There is no screenplay-writing recipe that guarantees your cake will rise.