Never Use A Verb Other Than ‘said’

My Most Important Rule Is One That Sums Up The 10: If It Sounds Like Writing, I Rewrite It.

A Friend Of Mine Who Is In The Publishing Business Knew I Was Writing A Book, And He Said, 'have You Said Anything Yet About The Good Guy? Because I Know You Spend So Much Time With The Bad Guys.' Because They're Fun. So Then You Have To Make The Good Guy Fun, In Order To Compete. That's The Challenge.

To Me, Writing Is The Most Fun. It's Not Always Fun, But Finally When You Make It Come Out The Way You Want, It's Then You Can Say, 'it's Fun, Boy.'

At The Time I Begin Writing A Novel, The Last Thing I Want To Do Is Follow A Plot Outline. To Know Too Much At The Start Takes The Pleasure Out Of Discovering What The Book Is About.

It Doesn't Have To Make Sense, It Just Has To Sound Like It Does.