Robert McKee Writing Quotations

All writing is discipline, but screenwriting is a drill sergeant.

God help you if you use voice-over in your work, my friends. God help you. That's flaccid, sloppy writing. Any idiot can write a voice-over narration to explain the thoughts of a character.

When talented people write badly, it's generally for one of two reasons: Either they're blinded by an idea they feel compelled to prove of they're driven by an emotion they must express. When talented people write well, it is generally for this reason: They're moved by a desire to touch the audience.

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.

Write every day, line by line, page by page, hour by hour. Do this despite fear. For above all else, beyond imagination and skill, what the world asks of you is courage, courage to risk rejection, ridicule and failure. As you follow the quest for stories told with meaning and beauty, study thoughtfully but write boldly. Then, like the hero of the fable, your dance will dazzle the world.

To get the truth, you want to get your own heart to pound while you write.

There is no screenplay-writing recipe that guarantees your cake will rise.

When you do enough research, the story almost writes itself. Lines of development spring loose and you'll have choices galore.

The dirty secret of art is you don't have to show people your bad writing. That's what we have the delete key for.

Don't be didactic - don't write about poverty. Write about poor people. When you dramatize their lives and let life and characters be your inspiration, you will express the 'idea' dynamically and without preaching.

Of all the reasons for wanting to write, the only one that nurtures us through time is love of the work itself.

Writing is a marathon, not a sprint.

We rarely know where we are going; writing is a discovery.