Peter Turchi - Collected Quotes

"A plot is a piece of ground, a plan (as in the plan of a building), or a scheme; to plot is to make a plan or, in geometry, to graph points on a grid. When we create a story, even a character-rather than event-based story, we make a plot or map out the narrative’s essential moments." (Peter Turchi, "Maps of the Imagination: The writer as cartographer", 2004)

"But there is also beauty in the telling detail, the provocative glimpse, the perfectly framed snapshot. The question of what to include, how much to include, can only be answered with regard to what, precisely, we mean to create. A story isn’t as utilitarian as a map of bicycle paths, but like that map, it is defined by its purpose. To serve its purpose, a story might very well be stripped down to a few spare glittering parts; alternately, it might require, or benefit from, apparently useless observations, conversations, and excursions. Perhaps the only answer is that we can’t know what needs to be in, what needs to be out, until we know what it is that we’re making, toward what end." (Peter Turchi, "Maps of the Imagination: The writer as cartographer", 2004)

"If we attempt to map the world of a story before we explore it, we are likely either to (a) prematurely limit our exploration, so as to reduce the amount of material we need to consider, or (b) explore at length but, recognizing the impossibility of taking note of everything, and having no sound basis for choosing what to include, arbitrarily omit entire realms of information. The opportunities are overwhelming." (Peter Turchi, "Maps of the Imagination: The writer as cartographer", 2004)

"Our mental maps are often not terribly accurate, based as they are on our own selective experience, our knowledge and ignorance, and the information and misinformation we gain from others; nevertheless, these are the maps we depend on every day." (Peter Turchi, "Maps of the Imagination: The writer as cartographer", 2004)

"The world of a story is not merely the sum of all the words we put on a page, or on many pages. When we talk about entering the world of a story as a reader we refer to things we picture, or imagine, and responses we form - to characters, events - all of which are prompted by, but not entirely encompassed by, the words on the page." (Peter Turchi, "Maps of the Imagination: The writer as cartographer", 2004)

"The writer’s obligation is to make rewarding both the reader’s journey and his destination." (Peter Turchi, "Maps of the Imagination: The writer as cartographer", 2004)

"There is no end to the information we can use. A 'good' map provides the information we need for a particular purpose - or the information the mapmaker wants us to have. To guide us, a map’s designers must consider more than content and projection; any single map involves hundreds of decisions about presentation." (Peter Turchi, "Maps of the Imagination: The writer as cartographer", 2004)