“A good story is like a well-placed punch: quick, effective, and impossible to ignore.”

“Sometimes a well-placed sound effect can be more poignant than a boxing glove-sized punch line.”

“Can a story be good only if it produces an effect? If the effect is a bad one, but intended, has the story done its job? Is it then a good story? If the story produces an effect other than the intended one, is it then a bad story? Can a story be said to produce an effect at all? Can a story actually do anything at all? ”

“First time I got punched in the face, I was like, 'Oh no!' but then I was like, 'This is a story.”

“The story was gradually taking shape. Pilon liked it this way. It ruined a story to have it all come out quickly. The good story lay in half-told things which must be filled in out of the hearer's own experience.”

“This story about good food begins in a quick-stop convenience market.”