I currently live in the Plaza in New York and I love it - all that history, all those interesting stories.
So many stories, and to choose which ones to tell and how to tell them. The words, they will tap me on the shoulder and they will speak to me: 'Tell me! Tell me!' The stories choose me.
Think about all the great leaders. Think about Obama. Think about Clinton. Think about Nelson Mandela. Think about all the people that we know who are very successful in business, in politics and religion. What are they? They tell purposeful stories. They move people to action by aiming at the heart.
We just try to find stories that are interesting to us.
The press was all over to get a picture of me. It got to the point where they were all over my house, following me to work... Then Tom Brokaw and everybody else was doing stories, 'A star is born.'
Just like all great stories, our fears focus our attention on a question that is as important in life as it is in literature: What will happen next?
As a child, I loved story books and wanted to be in them so desperately and live the stories.
There are no heroes in most of my stories. I look at our society with a critical eye and find nothing extraordinary in the people I see.
Some of the best stories that I've gotten, that others have written about this administration, about the previous administration, you have to rely on anonymous sources.
Television's not going read stories to you.
I like something where I can really use my imagination and be an active participant in the construction of the monster and usually that's in the world of the supernatural or the world of the fantastic, so that's why those kinds of stories about demons and the supernatural appeal to me or maybe I'm really interested in that subject.
What I really like to do is write 'genre' stories without a cartoonish element. I did the same with 'Da Vinci's Demons,' and I'll do the same with 'Man of Steel.'
You know, I'm trying to sometimes sit down and write some stories about my childhood and maybe one when I'm an old lady put them out like a book.
I learned how to tell stories with Jay-Z on 'City Is Mine.' I learned how to film and choreograph dancing on 'Can I Get A...,' and I got to kind of be a documentary filmmaker with 'Hard Knock Life.'
Short stories are my favorite art form. A good one is compact and complete, a telling little slice of life, capturing a moment in time that - for the character - defines her, changes her, is the tipping point for all that will follow.
Of course, I write crime stories, and I have to describe violence and the aftermath of violence.
I grew up with Shakespeare, and there are so many wonderful teachings in those plays. The stories are all so unique and timeless. There is just so much learning in that body of work, and that is something I will always go back to.
As his talent expands, some of his stories become pointed social commentary; some are surprisingly effective religious tracts, disguised as science fiction. Others still are nostalgic vignettes, but under it all is still Bradbury, the poet of 20th-century neurosis.
I think that's the real reason, sometimes, that people talk about my stories as being scary, because if you compare what goes on in my stories to what goes on in popular movies and popular songs, it's very mild.
I have to say that it was working with my grandpa, who grew up on a farm in Mountain Home, Idaho, that had the most influence. Witnessing his work ethic and hearing his stories gave me an appreciation for the farm's best lessons.
Don't tell your stories to anyone. You'll be more motivated knowing it's a prerequisite to having an audience.
My style is colloquial storytelling. It's the way we tell stories to one another - it's not writerly, it's not overdone.
If you really want to tell stories, do it and don't be dissuaded.
The same issue is happening on a show like Everybody Loves Raymond now, which is in its eighth year and struggling to come up with good stories. It'll be interesting to see how they do. The bottom line is, it starts with the writers and ends with the writers.
What's funny about Jesus' Son is that I never even wrote that book, I just wrote it down. I would tell these stories and people would say, You should write these things down.
There are stories that people don't want to talk about that brought this music through.
I was not able to be the front forward of a soccer team - that is a way to make people super happy every Sunday. What I can do is tell stories and try to put my coin in that discussion.
There are so many immigrant-led success stories in the United States, and the fact that it's gotten so much harder for educated folks to stay here is really unfortunate.
I don't have to listen to the Gospel on Sunday to know the stories of the New Testament. They inform so much of what I write that they're practically like a news scrim that goes through my brain 24/7.
You only need to look at Jane Austen to see how crossed wires can become a defining aspect of romantic life. Then again, if the course of true love ran more smoothly, it would have a terribly detrimental effect on our cache of love stories.
Eventually I would like to touch all the genres. I would like to do some detective stories, and I want to do a Western. I would want to do humorous Westerns.
You want a story? Read 'Gone With the Wind'. These aren't stories. They're joke books. The whole thing of a beginning, a middle and an end has been done to death.
Chicago's known for the drill. Keefs, Lil Durks, and whatnot. My music, on the other hand, it has a message to it. I think that's what sets me apart. I think it gets deeper than saying anything on a trap beat. I'm putting stories together, and people are relating to what I am saying.
I need to keep my story count high. I'm trying to get as many stories in my hour as is humanly possible. We're telling more stories in our hour than any national newscast has in the history of this business, I think.
I never really did years of movie-after-movie-after-movie but when you've got three toddlers in the house you're performing all day long, anyway, with puppet shows and stories - I act around the clock.
The first information I consume in the morning is probably 'The New York Times' and then my Twitter feed. I think Twitter is a really fascinating, easy way to stay on top of what stories are out there.
