Angry contradiction of the patriarch is not creativity; it's delinquency calling for attention. Difference for the sake of difference is as empty an achievement as slavishly following the commercial imperative. Robert McKee More Quotes by Robert McKee More Quotes From Robert McKee Of the total creative effort represented in a finished work, 75 percent or more of a writer's labor goes into designing the story designing story tests the maturity and insight of the writer, his knowledge of society, nature, and the human heart. Story demands both vivid imagination and powerful analytic thought. Robert McKee maturity powerful heart Story isn't a flight from reality but a vehicle that carries us on our search for reality. Robert McKee flight stories reality Of all the reasons for wanting to write, the only one that nurtures us through time is love of the work itself. Robert McKee rough-times reason writing Classical design is a mirror of the human mind. It's how we see the world. Robert McKee design mirrors mind If you can't play all the instruments in the orchestra of story, no matter what music may be in your imagination, you're condemned to hum the same old tune. Robert McKee imagination play writing A culture cannot evolve without honest, powerful storytelling. When a society repeatedly experiences glossy, hollowed-out, pseudo-stories, it degenerates. We need true satires and tragedies, dramas and comedies that shine a clean light into the dingy corners of the human psyche and society. Robert McKee powerful light drama Leaders use story to author the future. Robert McKee leader use stories To get the truth, you want to get your own heart to pound while you write. Robert McKee creativity heart writing The material of literary talent is words; the material of story talent is life itself. Robert McKee materials talent stories The principle of Creative Limitations calls for freedom within a circle of obstacles and restricted boundaries. Talent is like a muscle: without something to push against, it atrophies. So we deliberately put obstacles in our path - barriers that will inspire us. We disciple ourselves as to what to do, while we're boundless as to how to do it. Robert McKee creativity circles inspiration Anxious, inexperienced writers obey rules. Rebellious, unschooled writers break rules. Artists master the form. Robert McKee rebellious break artist What happens is fact, not truth. Truth is what we think about what happens. Robert McKee stories inspirational thinking In life two negatives don't make a positive. Double negatives turn positive only in math and formal logic. In life things just get worse and worse and worse. Robert McKee logic math two Boredom is the inner conflict we suffer when we lose desire, when we lack a lacking. Robert McKee boredom suffering desire Stories are how we remember; we tend to forget lists and bullet points. Robert McKee bullets lists stories Deus ex machina not only erases all meaning and emotion, it's an insult to the audience. Each of us knows we must choose and act, for better or worse, to determine the meaning of our lives...Deus ex machina is an insult because it is a lie. Robert McKee meaning-of-life emotion lying Secure writers don't sell first drafts. They patiently rewrite until the script is as director-ready, as actor-ready as possible. Unfinished work invites tampering, while polished, mature work seals its integrity. Robert McKee unfinished-work theatre integrity Influence is just persuasion in slow motion. Robert McKee slow-motion persuasion influence Night after night, through years of performing and directing, I've stood in awe of the audience, of its capacity for response. As if by magic, masks fall away, faces become vulnerable, receptive. Filmgoers do not defend their emotions, rather they open to the storyteller in ways even their lovers never know, welcoming laughter, tears, terror, rage, compassion, passion, love, hate--the ritual often exhausts them. Robert McKee laughter hate fall Whereas life separates meaning from emotion, art unites them. Story is an instrument by which you create such epiphanies at will, the phenomenon known as aesthetic emotion...Life on its own, without art to shape it, leaves you in confusion and chaos, but aesthetic emotion harmonizes what you know with what you feel to give you a heightened awareness and a sureness of your place in reality. Robert McKee giving reality art
