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 lawyer's job is to manipulate the skeletons in other people's closets.

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

A writer writes what other people only think.

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

Dialogue is a lean language in which every word counts.

The biggest difference between a writer and a would-be writer is their attitude toward rewriting. . . . Unwillingness to revise usually signals an amateur.