--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: My first duty to write a gripping yarn…" description: "\"My first duty to write a gripping yarn. Second is to convey credible characters who make you feel what they feel. Only third comes the idea.\" — David Brin" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68a/david-brin-3024_character_my-first-duty-to-write-a-gripping-yarn-s_1209793.png" --- # My first duty to write a gripping yarn. Second is to… ![“My first duty to write a gripping yarn. Second is to convey credible characters who make you feel what they feel. Only third comes the idea.” quote by David Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68a/david-brin-3024_character_my-first-duty-to-write-a-gripping-yarn-s_1209793.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68a/david-brin-3024_character_my-first-duty-to-write-a-gripping-yarn-s_1209793.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68a/david-brin-3024_character_my-first-duty-to-write-a-gripping-yarn-s_1209793.png) > “My first duty to write a gripping yarn. Second is to convey credible characters who make you feel what they feel. Only third comes the idea.” [David Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Storytelling should prioritize plot, then authentic characters, then ideas. **In simple terms:** First plot, then characters, then ideas. Key Takeaway Structure your narrative before adding depth. Themes writing structure character development Mood reflective inspirational Type creative educational When to use this quote - novel writing - screenwriting - game design - marketing copy Key Concepts narrative hierarchy creative process Questions to Reflect On - What element of your story needs strengthening first? - How do you balance character depth with plot pacing? A Different Perspective Focusing too much on ideas can stall the story. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Credible](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/credible/) [Credible Characters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/credible-characters-3661601/) [Duty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/duty/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Firsts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/) [Gripping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gripping/) [Gripping Yarn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gripping-yarn-3661598/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Thirds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thirds/) [Write Gripping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/write-gripping-3661599/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) [Yarn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/yarn/) [Yarn Second](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/yarn-second-3661600/) ## Related quotes > [With undead armies, psychotic angels and exploding airships, Scar Night is a gripping, ripping yarn which rattles along at a great pace. Tether all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-duncan/with-undead-armies-psychotic-angels-and-exploding-airships-scar-night/) [Hal Duncan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-duncan/) > [As project chief you are creating a narrative, a story, a good yarn. If you look at the process-journey that way, you and your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-peters/as-project-chief-you-are-creating-a-narrative-a-story-a-good-yarn-if/) [Tom Peters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-peters/) > [There are stories in everything. I've got some of my best yarns from park benches, lampposts, and newspaper stands.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/o-henry/there-are-stories-in-everything-i-ve-got-some-of-my-best-yarns-from/) [O. Henry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/o-henry/) > [I've got some of my best yarns from park benches, lamp posts and newspaper stands.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/o-henry/i-ve-got-some-of-my-best-yarns-from-park-benches-lamp-posts-and/) [O. Henry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/o-henry/) > [I guess this is how love is when it comes undone. No matter how tight you knit the stitches, a sharp tug on a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tayari-jones/i-guess-this-is-how-love-is-when-it-comes-undone-no-matter-how-tight/) [Tayari Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tayari-jones/) > [God, the Master Weaver. He stretches the yarn and intertwines the colors, the ragged twine with the velvet strings, the pains with the pleasures.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-lucado/god-the-master-weaver-he-stretches-the-yarn-and-intertwines-the/) [Max Lucado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-lucado/) > [Writing is incidental to my primary objective, which is spinning a good yarn. I view myself as a storyteller more than a writer. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashwin-sanghi/writing-is-incidental-to-my-primary-objective-which-is-spinning-a/) [Ashwin Sanghi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashwin-sanghi/) > [“I was into it while I was trying to figure it out. Counting those stitches was fascinating because I wanted to beat it. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kit-rocha/i-was-into-it-while-i-was-trying-to-figure-it-out-counting-those/) [Kit Rocha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kit-rocha/) > [The first thing that attracts me to any script is the writing. If I find myself becoming lost in a good yarn, then I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-marie-duff/the-first-thing-that-attracts-me-to-any-script-is-the-writing-if-i/) [Anne-Marie Duff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-marie-duff/) > [If upon this earth we ever have a glimpse of heaven,it is when we pass a home in winter, at night,and through the windows,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/if-upon-this-earth-we-ever-have-a-glimpse-of-heaven-it-is-when-we/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [“All knitterly creation stems from one simple element: yarn. It is the baker’s flour, the jeweler’s gold, the gardener’s soil. Yarn is creation, consolation,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clara-parkes/all-knitterly-creation-stems-from-one-simple-element-yarn-it-is-the/) [Clara Parkes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clara-parkes/) > [A lot of fancier yarns come from people trying to tell the truth. It’s not easy once you’re out of the habit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dashiell-hammett/a-lot-of-fancier-yarns-come-from-people-trying-to-tell-the-truth-it-s/) [Dashiell Hammett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dashiell-hammett/) > [I have my own office, and I'm there during the evenings and weekends. But during the week, I'm sitting in the middle of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dries-van-noten/i-have-my-own-office-and-i-m-there-during-the-evenings-and-weekends/) [Dries van Noten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dries-van-noten/) > [I was in 'Seussical,' and I was in a cage onstage in a purple yarn suit singing backup, and I was like: 'I've had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/casey-nicholaw/i-was-in-seussical-and-i-was-in-a-cage-onstage-in-a-purple-yarn-suit/) [Casey Nicholaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/casey-nicholaw/) > [Achieving the state of SABLE is not, as many people who live with these knitters believe, a reason to stop buying yarn, but for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephanie-pearl-mcphee/achieving-the-state-of-sable-is-not-as-many-people-who-live-with/) [Stephanie Pearl-McPhee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephanie-pearl-mcphee/) ## More by David Brin > [Beware of self-indulgence. The romance surrounding the writing profession carries several myths: that one must suffer in order to be creative; that one must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brin/beware-of-self-indulgence-the-romance-surrounding-the-writing/) [David Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brin/) > [Anything done in secret is more likely to result in terrible errors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brin/anything-done-in-secret-is-more-likely-to-result-in-terrible-errors/) [David Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brin/) > [“Men can be brilliant and strong, they whispered to one another. But men can be mad, as well. 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Especially in humans. For every good idea, ten thousand idiotic ones must first be posed, sifted, tried out, and discarded.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brin/it-s-how-creativity-works-especially-in-humans-for-every-good-idea/) [David Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brin/) > [Tragedies such as Nevil Shute's 'On the Beach' and Stanley Kubrick's 'Dr Strangelove' are so powerful because there's an underlying assumption that this did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brin/tragedies-such-as-nevil-shute-s-on-the-beach-and-stanley-kubrick-s-dr/) [David Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brin/) > [In contrast, markets - oft mythologized as "natural" are the most unnatural things going. Libertarians will tell you "market laws are laws of nature",…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brin/in-contrast-markets-oft-mythologized-as-natural-are-the-most/) [David Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brin/) > [“Snow and soot covered the ancient tree's broken branches and seared bark. It wasn't dead, not quite yet. Here and there tiny shoots of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brin/snow-and-soot-covered-the-ancient-tree-s-broken-branches-and-seared/) [David Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brin/) > [“As simple an act as reading or writing a sentence must be surrounded by perceptory nap and weave . . . an itch, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brin/as-simple-an-act-as-reading-or-writing-a-sentence-must-be-surrounded/) [David Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brin/) > [Ideologies are too seductive anyway. It does a man good to see things from a different point of view.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brin/ideologies-are-too-seductive-anyway-it-does-a-man-good-to-see-things/) [David Brin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brin/) [Explore all 142 David Brin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brin/) ## More Character quotes > [This may sound strange, but although I feel like I know everything about my characters, the brand of shampoo they use, how many cavities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-honeyman/this-may-sound-strange-but-although-i-feel-like-i-know-everything/) [Gail Honeyman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-honeyman/) > [I always like a character who makes me laugh.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachael-stirling/i-always-like-a-character-who-makes-me-laugh/) [Rachael Stirling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachael-stirling/) > [Social responsibility above the level of family, or at most of tribe, requires imagination-- devotion, loyalty, all the higher virtues -- which a man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/social-responsibility-above-the-level-of-family-or-at-most-of-tribe/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I'm often moved by the circumstances around some of my characters, but I don't think I've actually cried watching myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-winslet/i-m-often-moved-by-the-circumstances-around-some-of-my-characters-but/) [Kate Winslet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-winslet/) > [When you're on a daytime drama you get one page, you better damn well know your character. You better know what she would do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hudgins/when-you-re-on-a-daytime-drama-you-get-one-page-you-better-damn-well/) [David Hudgins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hudgins/) > [It can sometimes make people fold into themselves and kind of run away, but I think in this case these characters are being forced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-deschanel/it-can-sometimes-make-people-fold-into-themselves-and-kind-of-run/) [Emily Deschanel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-deschanel/) > [If you are well-mannered towards those whose views are similar to yours, you may be said to exhibit a fairly good character. But, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-are-well-mannered-towards-those-whose-views-are-similar-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-s-truman/democracy-is-based-on-the-conviction-that-man-has-the-moral-and/) [Harry S. 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