A story is an organic whole, and when we say a story is good, we’re saying that it responds alertly to itself. This holds true in both directions; a brief description of a road tells us how to read the present moment but also all the past moments in the story and all those still to come.

That’s really all a story is: a limited set of elements that we read against one another.

A good story is one that, having created a pattern of excesses, notices those excesses and converts them into virtues.

Always be escalating. That’s all a story is, really: a continual system of escalation. A swath of prose earns its place in the story to the extent that it contributes to our sense that the story is (still) escalating.

This is important, because causation is what creates the appearance of meaning.