--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I like to think that I am telling a story…" description: "\"I like to think that I am telling a story rather than writing it.\" — Alistair MacLeod" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04a/alistair-macleod-32787_stories_i-like-to-think-that-i-am-telling-a-stor_1012556.png" --- # I like to think that I am telling a story rather than… ![“I like to think that I am telling a story rather than writing it.” quote by Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04a/alistair-macleod-32787_stories_i-like-to-think-that-i-am-telling-a-stor_1012556.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04a/alistair-macleod-32787_stories_i-like-to-think-that-i-am-telling-a-stor_1012556.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04a/alistair-macleod-32787_stories_i-like-to-think-that-i-am-telling-a-stor_1012556.png) > “I like to think that I am telling a story rather than writing it.” [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Viewing writing as storytelling emphasizes experience over structure. **In simple terms:** Seeing writing as storytelling. Key Takeaway Focus on narrative flow. Themes storytelling writing creativity Mood inspirational thoughtful Type philosophical advice When to use this quote - novel writing - journalism - screenwriting - personal essays Key Concepts literature craft Questions to Reflect On - How does this mindset affect your editing process? - What stories do you want to tell? A Different Perspective May neglect technical polish. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Stories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) [Story writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/story-writing/) [Telling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telling/) [Telling A Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telling-a-story/) [Telling Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telling-story/) [Think Telling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think-telling-588199/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [Story is about pulling the reader in and a plot is a more externalized mechanism of revelation. A plot is more antic, more performative,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/story-is-about-pulling-the-reader-in-and-a-plot-is-a-more/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [Telling a story of illness, one pulls a thread through a narrow opening flanked on one side by shame and the other by trivia.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-griffin/telling-a-story-of-illness-one-pulls-a-thread-through-a-narrow/) [Susan Griffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-griffin/) > [This is what I thought: for the most banal even to become an adventure, you must (and this is enough) begin to recount it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-sartre/this-is-what-i-thought-for-the-most-banal-even-to-become-an-adventure/) [Jean-Paul Sartre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-sartre/) > [“Like JJ Abrams,  creators just want to tell a story and entertain people. So why only focus in one way of telling it?Give readers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rae-vasquez/like-jj-abrams-creators-just-want-to-tell-a-story-and-entertain/) [Anne-Rae Vasquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rae-vasquez/) > [Being an actor is an extension of telling a story and I loved story telling as a child.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amanda-burton/being-an-actor-is-an-extension-of-telling-a-story-and-i-loved-story/) [Amanda Burton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amanda-burton/) > [I am not interested only in telling a story, but I want to tell it my way. I don't want my accent, my temperament,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haile-gerima/i-am-not-interested-only-in-telling-a-story-but-i-want-to-tell-it-my/) [Haile Gerima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haile-gerima/) > [I always want to make sure I'm telling a story about people that I care about.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joss-whedon/i-always-want-to-make-sure-i-m-telling-a-story-about-people-that-i/) [Joss Whedon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joss-whedon/) > [If you're a fan of anything I do, I'm always telling a story. I'm into that - I like it when you don't know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-east/if-you-re-a-fan-of-anything-i-do-i-m-always-telling-a-story-i-m-into/) [Dave East](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-east/) > [I have to go with what I do, and what I do has more to do with what people say to each other than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/i-have-to-go-with-what-i-do-and-what-i-do-has-more-to-do-with-what/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [“Funny though… and many of you know this… given a bit of slack, I’ll wander all over the place when telling a story.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hocking/funny-though-and-many-of-you-know-this-given-a-bit-of-slack-i-ll/) [Bob Hocking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hocking/) > [That sad moment when you're telling a story but you realize nobody's listening to you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/that-sad-moment-when-you-re-telling-a-story-but-you-realize-nobody-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Listening to someone telling a story & thinking: Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, and lie.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/listening-to-someone-telling-a-story-thinking-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Telling a story is like playing a fiddle. No one want's to hear it when it's done badly”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/telling-a-story-is-like-playing-a-fiddle-no-one-want-s-to-hear-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The most important thing to realise is that everyone is capable of telling a story. It doesn't matter where we were born or how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maeve-binchy/the-most-important-thing-to-realise-is-that-everyone-is-capable-of/) [Maeve Binchy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maeve-binchy/) > [“Telling a story is like reaching into a granary full of wheat and drawing out a handful. There is always more to tell than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/telling-a-story-is-like-reaching-into-a-granary-full-of-wheat-and/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) ## More by Alistair MacLeod > [“And I am overwhelmed now by the awfulness of over-simplification. For now I realize that not only have I been guilty of it through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/and-i-am-overwhelmed-now-by-the-awfulness-of-over-simplification-for/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [Perhaps it is better to have a place to go to that you hate than to have no place at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/perhaps-it-is-better-to-have-a-place-to-go-to-that-you-hate-than-to/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [A Fiddle for Angus is a charming tale. This is a very fine book.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/a-fiddle-for-angus-is-a-charming-tale-this-is-a-very-fine-book/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [“Some men,” she would add in ominous seriousness, “are nice as pie in public but within their own homes they are mean and miserly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/some-men-she-would-add-in-ominous-seriousness-are-nice-as-pie-in/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [There is a kind of belief among my students that things that are true are interesting. But most things that are true are not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/there-is-a-kind-of-belief-among-my-students-that-things-that-are-true/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [No one has ever said that life is to be easy. Only that it is to be lived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/no-one-has-ever-said-that-life-is-to-be-easy-only-that-it-is-to-be/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [Today there is a division between those who write about literature and those who create it. I, obviously, don't think that should be there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/today-there-is-a-division-between-those-who-write-about-literature/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [“Sometimes it slanted against her window with a pinging sound, which meant it was close to hail, and then it was visible as tiny…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/sometimes-it-slanted-against-her-window-with-a-pinging-sound-which/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [All of us are better when we're loved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/all-of-us-are-better-when-we-re-loved/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [And then there came into my heart a very great love for my father and I thought it was very much braver to spend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/and-then-there-came-into-my-heart-a-very-great-love-for-my-father-and/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [“Measure twice; cut once.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/measure-twice-cut-once/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [“ On a clear day you can see Prince Edward Island , we would say. Not "forever", just Prince Edward Island.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/on-a-clear-day-you-can-see-prince-edward-island-we-would-say-not/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [If people aren't creating literature, there would be nothing for people to criticize.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/if-people-aren-t-creating-literature-there-would-be-nothing-for/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) > [Writers write about what worries them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/writers-write-about-what-worries-them/) [Alistair MacLeod](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) [Explore all 15 Alistair MacLeod quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/) ## More Stories quotes > [Histories never conclude; they just pause their prose. Their stories are, if they are truthful, untidy affairs, resistant to windings-up and sortings-out. They beat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-schama/histories-never-conclude-they-just-pause-their-prose-their-stories/) [Simon Schama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-schama/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [When you listen to someone improvise, the notes that are played are only half the story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hubert-laws/when-you-listen-to-someone-improvise-the-notes-that-are-played-are/) [Hubert Laws](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hubert-laws/) > [Well, The Day the Earth Caught Fire was a story... I don't if anybody knows what it is but it was about... in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/val-guest/well-the-day-the-earth-caught-fire-was-a-story-i-don-t-if-anybody/) [Val Guest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/val-guest/) > [She smiled, if he could see that, and waited for him to ask the real question. But he was silent. He wanted her to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-shinn/she-smiled-if-he-could-see-that-and-waited-for-him-to-ask-the-real/) [Sharon Shinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-shinn/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [It took me 20 years to buy an electric typewriter, because I was afraid it would be too sensitive. I like to bang the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elmore-leonard/it-took-me-20-years-to-buy-an-electric-typewriter-because-i-was/) [Elmore Leonard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elmore-leonard/) > [Having small children and being an investigative reporter would seem like a difficult mix, but it worked well for me. I was often working…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jill-abramson/having-small-children-and-being-an-investigative-reporter-would-seem/) [Jill Abramson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jill-abramson/) > [In the current climate, things that are true, brave human stories become political.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-blanchett/in-the-current-climate-things-that-are-true-brave-human-stories/) [Cate Blanchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-blanchett/) > [It goes to show you how we in the press so often miss the big stories that are right under our noses. There is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-ebert/it-goes-to-show-you-how-we-in-the-press-so-often-miss-the-big-stories/) [Roger Ebert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-ebert/) > [Now I am in the place I call this wide wide Heaven because it includes all my simplest desires but also the most humble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-sebold/now-i-am-in-the-place-i-call-this-wide-wide-heaven-because-it/) [Alice Sebold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-sebold/) > [I think it's actually kind of sweet how there is a reciprocal effect that our stories can have on each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chelsea-manning/i-think-it-s-actually-kind-of-sweet-how-there-is-a-reciprocal-effect/) [Chelsea Manning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chelsea-manning/) > [I had sort of had a 21st birthday when I was 17, 18 years old living in Japan. I had all of that stuff…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-wright/i-had-sort-of-had-a-21st-birthday-when-i-was-17-18-years-old-living/) [Sarah Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-wright/) > [Story is about pulling the reader in and a plot is a more externalized mechanism of revelation. A plot is more antic, more performative,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-enright/story-is-about-pulling-the-reader-in-and-a-plot-is-a-more/) [Anne Enright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-enright/) > [Women know things that men will never know. We keep the best secrets. We tell the best stories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-hoffman/women-know-things-that-men-will-never-know-we-keep-the-best-secrets/) [Alice Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-hoffman/) [Browse all 19,094 Stories quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I like to think that I am telling a story rather than writing it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alistair MacLeod" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/i-like-to-think-that-i-am-telling-a-story-rather-than-writing-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Stories" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/i-like-to-think-that-i-am-telling-a-story-rather-than-writing-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04a/alistair-macleod-32787_stories_i-like-to-think-that-i-am-telling-a-stor_1012556.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04a/alistair-macleod-32787_stories_i-like-to-think-that-i-am-telling-a-stor_1012556.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/04a/alistair-macleod-32787_stories_i-like-to-think-that-i-am-telling-a-stor_1012556.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I like to think that I am telling a story rather than writing it.” — Alistair MacLeod", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Alistair MacLeod", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-macleod/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "I like to think that I...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/i-like-to-think-that-i-am-telling-a-story-rather-than-writing-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-macleod/i-like-to-think-that-i-am-telling-a-story-rather-than-writing-it/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```