Malcolm Cowley Quotes
The germ of a story is a new and simple element introduced into an existing situation or mood.
Quotes to Explore
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I'm not a character like Rapunzel or Cinderella; my story looks like any other.
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We want a story that starts out with an earthquake and works its way up to a climax.
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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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Every story I create, creates me. I write to create myself.
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Altruism raises your mood because it raises your self-esteem, which increases happiness. Plus, giving to others gets you outside of yourself and distracts you from your problems.
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The reader is going to imprint on the characters he sees first. He is going to expect to see these people often, to have them figure largely into the story, possibly to care about them. Usually, this will be the protagonist.
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My house is filled with books, most of which I have read, some of which I intend to eventually get to. I'm always reading at least one work of fiction and one work of non-fiction simultaneously. Whatever mood I'm in, there's always a book nearby to suit it.
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I think I've played a lesbian about five times. The first one was with Helen Baxendale in a drama called 'The Investigator,' about the conditions lesbians had to live under in the army in Britain, which was based on a true story.
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Music is very powerful and can make you feel whatever it is. If you listen to gospel, you're going to feel thankful, and you're going to want to call up people that you hate and tell them that you love them. When you listen to sexual music, it gets you in the mood.
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There's no story that breaks, including a five-alarm fire in Brooklyn, that I don't wish I were covering.
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A Golden Globe is a mood-altering substance, there's no doubt about that.
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Genes are like the story, and DNA is the language that the story is written in.
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My books are character-driven. They're not driven by the story.
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My fashion statement depends on my mood. I am more of a tomboy when dressing up, and I have never worn pink in my entire life.
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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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A news organization has a much different responsibility. I might not be telling you the whole story. I might not be telling you a story in a manner that is properly sophisticated.
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I love traveling. But I haven't had big, transformative experiences while on the road. When I go out on the road, it's to go out and get a story or do a promotional event.
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When you're a storyteller, part of the process of storytelling is the kind of communion you form with the audience to whom you're telling your story. If some segment of the audience doesn't like that story, it doesn't feel good.
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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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There are very few works of fiction that take you inside the heads of all characters. I tell my writing students that one of the most important questions to ask yourself when you begin writing a story is this: Whose story is it? You need to make a commitment to one or perhaps a few characters.
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As I try to get around with a guitar, a banjo and a suitcase of high heels and dresses, I treasure that little ukulele.
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I thought if something was a good idea, we should be able to apply it to ourselves as guinea pigs and do something with it, rather than just tell other people what they should do.
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People assume that because I'm a great athlete, I can dance. But no. My rhythm is off a little bit.
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The germ of a story is a new and simple element introduced into an existing situation or mood.
