17 Quotes by Patricia Ryan Madson

Trust your imagination. There is always something in the box.

All starting points are equally valid.

The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes,” said Marcel Proust.

Perfect is close enough.

A good improviser is someone who is awake, not entirely self-focused, and moved by a desire to do something useful and give something back and who acts upon this impulse.

To respond to a question or start improvised scenes, begin immediately using the first words that come to you. Trust your mind. Your first thought is a reasonable starting place; it is good enough. Don’t hesitate. Once you begin speaking, you have something to work with and build on. With the first-thought method it is as if the idea selects you rather than the other way around. The improviser focuses on making that idea into a good one, rather than searching for a “good idea.

Writers write to discover what they have to say bringing to consciousness what they already know. It is the same with speech: speak to discover what you want to say. Sculpt, correct, refine, and redirect your thoughts on the fly as you speak. Authentic speech includes lively editing as part of the process.

By stabilizing things you defeat the point of the exercise. Stay with the uncertainty, please. Really, it’s all about the struggle.