I write a very rough first draft of every chapter, then I rewrite every chapter. I try to get it down in the first rewrite, but some chapters I can't get quite right the third time. There are some I go over and over and over again.
Robert StoneThereโs only one subject for fiction or poetry or even a joke: how it is. In all the arts, the payoff is always the same: recognition. If it works, you say thatโs real, thatโs truth, thatโs life, thatโs the way things are. โThere it is.โ
Robert StoneYou don't want to depend on an editor. If you want to regret something for the rest of your life, you want to make sure you're responsible for it.
Robert StoneYou should let dialogue get as nearly out of control as you can. Characters should say what they say to each other instead of what they mean to say. The worst purpose of dialogue is to elicit information: "You know why we're out on this space station, Carruthers - to save the universe!"
Robert Stone