Larry Brooks Quotes & Sayings

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

The fact is men can't handle it. They can't take the heat when it gets ugly. Women, on the other hand, band together in the face of pain. They get strong. And then they get even. — Larry Brooks

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. — Larry Brooks

Even when we stop typing and leave the house, we remain writers. — Larry Brooks

Instinct is the elusive magic that happens when art collides with hard-won craft. — Larry Brooks

Here's the truth about organic writing: It's just story planning by another name. — Larry Brooks

Remember - write this down, it's critical - nothing fuels a story quite like hope. — Larry Brooks

The president of Goodwill Industries made $800,000 a year. — Larry Brooks

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. — Larry Brooks

If you're playing God, you need to get it right. — Larry Brooks

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

What if that child survived, and the lineage continues to this day, meaning the ancestors of Christ are walking among us? — Larry Brooks

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

Here's another analogy. Human beings bring only a handful of facial features to the blueprint of how we look - two eyes, two eyebrows, a nose, a mouth, a pair of cheekbones, and two ears, all pasted onto a somewhat ovular-to-round face. That particular blueprint doesn't often vary much, either. Interestingly enough, this is about the same number of essential storytelling parts and milestones that each and every story needs to showcase in order to be successful. Now, consider this: With only these eleven variables to work with, ask yourself how often you see two people who look exactly alike. In a crowd of ten thousand faces, you would be able to differentiate each and every one of them, other than a set of twins or two in attendance. Where we humans are concerned, the miracle of originality resides in the Creator, who applies an engineering-driven process - eleven variables - to an artistic outcome. Where art is concerned, there is something to be learned from that. — Larry Brooks

I paused, allowing the — Larry Brooks

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

Writing voice isn't as much a function of thinking as it is something that eludes definition and therefore assimilation. The more artful flavors of prose are more often a function of intuition and imitation fused with heart and wit and delivered with a strong does of lyric sensibility. It — Larry Brooks

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

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. — Larry Brooks

The bar is high. But now you have a ladder. — Larry Brooks

Mine were the actions of a desperate man. Present a defining moment to one and he'll bite every time. — Larry Brooks

Doing a lot of reading is not the prerequisite to writing. — Larry Brooks

Never hire anyone who starts a sentence with the word "Dude!" and never work for a guy who doesn't know the difference between mute and moot — Larry Brooks

A clever trick does not a concept make. — Larry Brooks

Love your scenes, and they'll love you in return. — Larry Brooks

Most of us are one of two things: blind or chicken-shit. We wouldn't know a crossroads in our lives if it had a set of stoplights and a Denny's. — Larry Brooks

But writers experience the world and themselves in a unique way. We look for meaning. We see it even when we are not paying attention, which is seldom because, as writers, paying attention is what we do. We are scribes to the ticking of the days, and we have a job to do. We are not at peace unless we are doing it. — Larry Brooks

The Six Core Competencies do not define or offer a formula. Rather, they define structure driven by criteria for the elements that comprise it. — Larry Brooks