"Storytelling is the knack of swiftly seizing the imagination of the audience and never letting it go. Digressions and elaborations are permissible, but only when the audience is already hooked by the promise of some satisfaction to come. The tension to that hook may be slackened now and again, but the line must be snapped tight at any moment when the dramatist senses the danger of losing his catch."

- Alexander Mackendrick in On Film-Making (via keithcalder)