When writers are self-conscious about themselves as writers they often keep a great distance from their characters, sounding as if they were writing ….

Dialogue is not just quotation. It is grimaces, pauses, adjustments of blouse buttons, doodles on a napkin, and crossings of legs.

If the atmosphere is to be foreboding, you must forebode on every page. If it is to be cold, you must chill, not once or twice, but until your reader….