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

A writer writes what other people only think.

Our instinct as human beings is to provide answers, to ease tension. As writers our job is the opposite, to create tension and not dispel it immediately.

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

In our not-yet-acknowledged secret garden lie the seeds of some of our best not-yet-written stories

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

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