We create an interior 'movie' in the reader's head through words on the page.

The simplest tool of the writer is repetition. . . . The simplest tool of the writer is repetition.

It's not enough simply to record the way people actually talk. The dialogue must be concentrated, shaped, dramatically moving, in a way that real-life conversation seldom is.

You will not read voice on the page; you will hear it in your head.

The only way to write a novel is to proceed as if you had all the time in the world.

But a writing project begins not just in doubt but also in faith-that if your passion is genuine, if you have mastered the elements of your craft, in the act of writing you will learn the rest of what you need to know in order to do justice to your subject.

We create an interior 'movie' in the reader's head through words on the page.