Siegfried Lenz Quotes
Every story I write starts with a dilemma or a theme. Once I am convinced that this is the issue that is perturbing my thoughts, I start to look for characters capable of representing it.

Quotes to Explore
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It's important for cinema to keep on evolving: for people, and not only teenagers, to be able to go to a movie that has huge epic scope but has an intellectual and real story to tell.
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I'm not a very big fan of 'Slumdog Millionaire.' I think it's visually brilliant. But I have problems with the story line. I find the storyline unconvincing.
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Characters who don't suffer have no interest to me.
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At times, the curve/fat/plus convo tends be this 'out of the dark' story, like, 'I used to be insecure, but now here I am.' But that is not my reality, and for most of the people, that isn't their reality, either.
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It's like tabloid news programs that talk about how horrible something is, while at the same time they're glorifying it as their top story.
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There really isn't a story that you can't tell inside of it. It's very much a clearinghouse for anything that goes on in the world. So you're not at all limited.
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I grew up in a place where everybody was a storyteller, but nobody wrote. It was that kind of Celtic, storytelling tradition: everybody would have a story at the pub or at parties, even at the clubs and raves.
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All of my characters are less than perfect.
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I like to let the story flesh itself out, and usually, the characters make their own decisions as things get under way. Dialogue especially seems to write itself once I'm familiar with the characters and their backgrounds.
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Of course, I'm not allowed to talk about the script, but I can say it is a really good story.
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I try to tell a story musically in a song.
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A novel requires a certain kind of world-building and also a certain kind of closure, ultimately. Whereas with a short story you have this sense that there are hinges that the reader doesn't see.
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As cliched as it sounds, if you have an original voice and an original idea, then no matter what anybody says, you have to find a way to tell that story.
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I will not go into a story unprepared. I will do my homework, and that's something I learned at an early age.
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My only conclusion about structure is that nothing works if you don't have interesting characters and a good story to tell.
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If not for the success that medicine has made, I might be part of a much different story right now.
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I wrote my first story when I was six or seven.
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I tend to write about my anxieties - it's what I'm afraid will happen. And I write a story working it out.
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In America, public opinion is the leader.
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How dare you, unless you can hold up your own life as a model of rectitude, achievement, and halcyon happiness, open your mouth about the stubborn secrets of living?
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I think in many ways the problem that my writing would have with an American reviewer is that Americans find difficulty very hard to take. They are inevitably looking for a happy ending.
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The most important thing is to stay positive.
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To me, the idea of success is to be able to work with people you admire.
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Every story I write starts with a dilemma or a theme. Once I am convinced that this is the issue that is perturbing my thoughts, I start to look for characters capable of representing it.