Everybody's got their troubles.
Never throw mud: you can miss the target, but your hands will remain dirty.
Why, after all, should readers never be harrowed? Surely there is enough happiness in life without having to go to books for it.
His books are exciting and powerful and — if I may filch the word from the booksy ones — pulsing.
Hold your pen and spare your voice.
[Epitaph:] Involved in a plot.