A story to me means a plot where there is some surprise… Because that is how life is — full of surprises.

I think the best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event, which is to say character-driven.

an ending must be both “inevitable and unexpected.

Every creative story is different. And every creative story is the same. There was nothing. Now there is something. It's almost like magic.

If a story is not about the hearer he [or she] will not listen . . . A great lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting — only the deeply personal and familiar.

Great stories happen to those who can tell them

Well, my story, surely, would furnish out a surprising kind of novel, if it were to be well told.

And, of course, people are only interested in themselves. If a story is not about the hearer he will not listen. And I here make a rule- a great and lasting story is about everyone or it will not last. The strange and foreign is not interesting- only the deeply personal and familiar.

A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions as it has readers. Everyone takes what he wants or can from it and thus changes it to his measure. Some pick out parts and reject the rest, some strain the story through their mesh of prejudice, some paint it with their own delight. A story must have some points of contact with the reader to make him feel at home in it. Only then can he accept wonders.

The power of owning our stories, even the difficult ones, is that we get to write the ending.

The secret to humor is surprise.

Where a story ends is nothing more than a snapshot in time, a brief flash of emotion, a pause. How and if it continues is up to us.

"This is not "how your story ends". It's simply where it takes a turn you didn't expect."

Perhaps the story you finish is never the one you begin.