--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As I see it, a successful story of any…" description: "\"As I see it, a successful story of any kind should be almost like hypnosis: You fascinate the reader with your first sentence, draw them in further wit..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be3/alan-moore-583_alleys_as-i-see-it-a-successful-story-of-any-ki_1196804.jpg" --- # As I see it, a successful story of any kind should be… ![“As I see it, a successful story of any kind should be almost like hypnosis: You fascinate the reader with your first sentence, draw them in further with your second sentence and have them in a mild trance by the third. Then, being careful not to wake them, you carry them away up the back alley of…” quote by Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be3/alan-moore-583_alleys_as-i-see-it-a-successful-story-of-any-ki_1196804.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be3/alan-moore-583_alleys_as-i-see-it-a-successful-story-of-any-ki_1196804.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be3/alan-moore-583_alleys_as-i-see-it-a-successful-story-of-any-ki_1196804.jpg) > “As I see it, a successful story of any kind should be almost like hypnosis: You fascinate the reader with your first sentence, draw them in further with your second sentence and have them in a mild trance by the third. Then, being careful not to wake them, you carry them away up the back alley of your narrative and when they are hopelessly lost within the story, having surrendered themselves to it, you do them terrible violence with a softball bag and then lead them whimpering to the exit on the last page. Believe me, they'll thank you for it.” [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Effective storytelling hypnotizes readers, building tension and release through pacing, then delivering a shocking climax. **In simple terms:** Good stories captivate and surprise readers. Key Takeaway Structure narratives to build tension then surprise. Themes writing storytelling psychology Mood thoughtful intriguing Type educational inspirational When to use this quote - novels - screenplays - graphic novels - marketing copy Key Concepts narrative pacing hypnosis climactic twist Questions to Reflect On - What pacing techniques keep readers engaged? - How do you balance tension and payoff? A Different Perspective Overuse of shock can alienate readers. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Hypnosis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hypnosis/) [Narrative](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/narrative/) [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Storytelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storytelling/) [Success](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/success/) [Successful](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/successful/) [Trance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trance/) [Violence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/violence/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [People often ask me if I'm working on a book. That's not how I feel. I feel like I work in a book. It's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mccullough/people-often-ask-me-if-i-m-working-on-a-book-that-s-not-how-i-feel-i/) [David McCullough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mccullough/) > [I like the hypnosis. Nothing too deep - just enough to keep me clearer and more focused.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jimmy-white/i-like-the-hypnosis-nothing-too-deep-just-enough-to-keep-me-clearer/) [Jimmy White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jimmy-white/) > [The grim reality is that most start-ups fail. Most new products are not successful. Yet the story of perseverance, creative genius, and hard work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-ries/the-grim-reality-is-that-most-start-ups-fail-most-new-products-are/) [Eric Ries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-ries/) > [Every successful story has the same ingredients with many different views and opinions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aditya-narayan/every-successful-story-has-the-same-ingredients-with-many-different/) [Aditya Narayan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aditya-narayan/) > [“A successful story always offers its audience more than a simple resolution of events. A story offers a dramatic affirmation of human needs that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-johnson/a-successful-story-always-offers-its-audience-more-than-a-simple/) [Bill Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-johnson/) > [Reading is also a creative activity if you're doing it right. You can learn more from a story that's left the tracks than from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dufresne/reading-is-also-a-creative-activity-if-you-re-doing-it-right-you-can/) [John Dufresne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dufresne/) > [Money is the probably the most successful story ever told. It has no objective value... but then you have these master storytellers: the big…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuval-noah-harari/money-is-the-probably-the-most-successful-story-ever-told-it-has-no/) [Yuval Noah Harari](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuval-noah-harari/) > [The benefit of writing a collection - as opposed to a novel - is that I'm able to have some version of the war…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/said-sayrafiezadeh/the-benefit-of-writing-a-collection-as-opposed-to-a-novel-is-that-i-m/) [Said Sayrafiezadeh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/said-sayrafiezadeh/) > [You can't tell any kind of a story without having some kind of a theme, something to say between the lines.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-wise/you-can-t-tell-any-kind-of-a-story-without-having-some-kind-of-a/) [Robert Wise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-wise/) > [When I was three and a half years old, I heard my big sister tell my mum that at school that day all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caterina-scorsone/when-i-was-three-and-a-half-years-old-i-heard-my-big-sister-tell-my/) [Caterina Scorsone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caterina-scorsone/) > [For me, each book is kind of like a silent film. If you were to remove the words and just look at the pictures,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kadir-nelson/for-me-each-book-is-kind-of-like-a-silent-film-if-you-were-to-remove/) [Kadir Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kadir-nelson/) > [Whether I'm working with a Top 40 artist or crafting my own music, it goes back to one thing: telling a powerful story and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-dream/whether-i-m-working-with-a-top-40-artist-or-crafting-my-own-music-it/) [The-Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-dream/) > [“And this story, having no beginning, will have no end.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clive-barker/and-this-story-having-no-beginning-will-have-no-end/) [Clive Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clive-barker/) > [“I once made up a story as a wedding present for some friends. It was about a couple who were given a story as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-gaiman/i-once-made-up-a-story-as-a-wedding-present-for-some-friends-it-was/) [Neil Gaiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-gaiman/) > [I always take a story that's kind of out there, like an urban myth. I take some possibility that people imagine, that they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cecelia-ahern/i-always-take-a-story-that-s-kind-of-out-there-like-an-urban-myth-i/) [Cecelia Ahern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cecelia-ahern/) ## More by Alan Moore > [I think that storytelling and creation are very close to what the center of what magic is about. I think not just for me,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/i-think-that-storytelling-and-creation-are-very-close-to-what-the/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [To some degree Satanism is purely a kind of disease of Christianity. You've got to really be Christian to believe in Satan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/to-some-degree-satanism-is-purely-a-kind-of-disease-of-christianity/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [There has been a rather unpleasant sensibility apparent in Frank Miller's work for quite a long time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/there-has-been-a-rather-unpleasant-sensibility-apparent-in-frank/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [I felt, if I'm going to react I might as well over react.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/i-felt-if-i-m-going-to-react-i-might-as-well-over-react/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [“Come, dry your eyes, for you are LIFE, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg; the clay in which the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/come-dry-your-eyes-for-you-are-life-rarer-than-a-quark-and/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Now everything is wonderful and hazardous and nothing's hypothetical.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/now-everything-is-wonderful-and-hazardous-and-nothing-s-hypothetical/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [If you look at that incredible burst of fantastic characters that emerged in the late 19th century/early 20th century, you can see so many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/if-you-look-at-that-incredible-burst-of-fantastic-characters-that/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [In many ways, my entire graphic novel career was a long diversion. Originally, all I wanted to do was to be an underground cartoonist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/in-many-ways-my-entire-graphic-novel-career-was-a-long-diversion/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [I was kind of a selfish child, who always wanted things his way, and I've kind of taken that over into my relationship with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/i-was-kind-of-a-selfish-child-who-always-wanted-things-his-way-and-i/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Magic is a state of mind. It is often portrayed as very black and gothic, and that is because certain practitioners played that up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/magic-is-a-state-of-mind-it-is-often-portrayed-as-very-black-and/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [“Above, great constellations wheeled to which our bonfire sparks ascended in their tiny mimicry”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/above-great-constellations-wheeled-to-which-our-bonfire-sparks/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [“You're my only remaining link to the world”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/you-re-my-only-remaining-link-to-the-world/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/nothing-ends-adrian-nothing-ever-ends/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [On the one occasion where I did try writing a screenplay, I found the rewriting just unendurable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/on-the-one-occasion-where-i-did-try-writing-a-screenplay-i-found-the/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [“The clothes you're wearing, the room, the house, the city that you're in. Everything in it started out in the human imagination. Your lives,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/the-clothes-you-re-wearing-the-room-the-house-the-city-that-you-re-in/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) [Explore all 460 Alan Moore quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) ## More Alleys quotes > [Dashiell Hammett took murder out of theVenetian vase and dropped it into the alley.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/dashiell-hammett-took-murder-out-of-thevenetian-vase-and-dropped-it/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [She glances back before stepping into the alley, and she catches her grandfather looking at her the way he does sometimes--as if she's already…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julianna-baggott/she-glances-back-before-stepping-into-the-alley-and-she-catches-her/) [Julianna Baggott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julianna-baggott/) > [Victim disarmament types are sick, sick people, who'd rather see a woman raped in an alley and strangled with her own pantyhose than see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/victim-disarmament-types-are-sick-sick-people-who-d-rather-see-a/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [In most cases, the best strategy for a job interview is to be fairly honest, because the worst thing that can happen is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-most-cases-the-best-strategy-for-a-job-interview-is-to-be-fairly/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If Elmore Leonard met Jim Thompson down a dark alley at midnight they might emerge a week later with thick beards, bloodshot eyes and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eoin-colfer/if-elmore-leonard-met-jim-thompson-down-a-dark-alley-at-midnight-they/) [Eoin Colfer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eoin-colfer/) > [It would be hilarious if I worked in a bowling alley.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aubrey-plaza/it-would-be-hilarious-if-i-worked-in-a-bowling-alley/) [Aubrey Plaza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aubrey-plaza/) > [...wings—-vast shimmering wings, their reach so great they swept the walls on either side of the alley, each feather like the wind-tugged lick of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laini-taylor/wings-vast-shimmering-wings-their-reach-so-great-they-swept-the-walls/) [Laini Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laini-taylor/) > [ Singing, dancing, and acting! The part \[of Roxie in Let It Shine\] was right up my alley. Plus, the thought of playing a rock… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/coco-jones/singing-dancing-and-acting-the-part-of-roxie-in-let-it-shine-was/) [Coco Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/coco-jones/) > [The trees grew too thickly, and their trunks were too big for any healthy New England wood. There was too much silence in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-p-lovecraft/the-trees-grew-too-thickly-and-their-trunks-were-too-big-for-any/) [H. P. Lovecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-p-lovecraft/) > [You start out with the sublime and you end up in an alley jerking away for dear life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/you-start-out-with-the-sublime-and-you-end-up-in-an-alley-jerking/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a shufti to see if it's solid, aren't we,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-we-come-face-to-face-with-one-down-a-dark-alley-we-re-going-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The costume designer, her name is Anne Hardinge. She's done "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz." She's really comedic costume designer, which was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerusha-hess/the-costume-designer-her-name-is-anne-hardinge-she-s-done-shaun-of/) [Jerusha Hess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerusha-hess/) > [I wish I could close my eyes and be blown into dust and nothingness, feel all my thoughts disperse like dandelion fluff drifting off…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/i-wish-i-could-close-my-eyes-and-be-blown-into-dust-and-nothingness-2/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [One hurries through, even though there's time; the past, the continent, is behind; the future is the glowing mouth in the side of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/one-hurries-through-even-though-there-s-time-the-past-the-continent/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [I feel like now if you're going to start a band you have to have an Instagram full of yourself looking a certain way,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/babatunde-adebimpe/i-feel-like-now-if-you-re-going-to-start-a-band-you-have-to-have-an/) [Babatunde Adebimpe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/babatunde-adebimpe/) Browse all 255 Alleys quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As I see it, a successful story of any kind should be almost like hypnosis: You fascinate the reader with your first sentence, draw them in further with your second sentence and have them in a mild trance by the third. 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