I see manuscripts and books that are spoiled for the literary reader because they are one long stream of top-of-the-head writing, a writer telling a story without concern for precision or freshness in the use of language. Some of this storytelling reads as if it were spoken rather than written, stuffed with tired images that pop into the writer's head because they are so familiar. The top of the head is fit for growing hair, but not for generating fine prose.

A writer writes what other people only think.

To create tension, dialogue needs to be stretched out. That is, characters should not be immediately responsive.

A reader's emotions can be sparked with few words. That's the power of dialogue.

Readers, transformed by film and TV, are used to seeing stories. The reading experience . . . is increasingly visual.

The expert magician seeks to deceive the mind, rather than the eye.

Dialogue is a lean language in which every word counts.