You have to roll up your sleeves and be a stonecutter before you can become a sculptor - command of craft always precedes art: apprentice, journeyman…

- Philip Gerard

Voice is one of the most elusive qualities in any story. We recognize it when we hear it, but it's hard consciously to create an authentic voice. Som…

- Philip Gerard

The simplest tool of the writer is repetition. . . . The simplest tool of the writer is repetition.

- Philip Gerard

It's not enough simply to record the way people actually talk. The dialogue must be concentrated, shaped, dramatically moving, in a way that real-lif…

- Philip Gerard

Voice really depends on the answer to the question, Who is telling this story? . . . That will color your diction-and determine your metaphors, your …

- Philip Gerard

The habits of craft, developed day in and day out over a working lifetime, create moments of astonishment, sublime and magical effects, precisely bec…

- Philip Gerard

For the big stuff to work credibly, you've got to get the little stuff absolutely right.

- Philip Gerard

The only way to write a novel is to proceed as if you had all the time in the world.

- Philip Gerard

But a writing project begins not just in doubt but also in faith-that if your passion is genuine, if you have mastered the elements of your craft, in…

- Philip Gerard