Keep at it! The one talent that's indispensable to a writer is persistence. You must write the book, else there is no book. It will not finish itself. Do not try to commit art. Just tell the damned story.
Suspense is achieved by information control: What you know. What the reader knows. What the characters know.
Speak your dialogue out loud. If it sounds like the way people talk, then write it down.
Learn to write the same way you learn to play golf. You do it and keep doing it until you get it right.
I write strictly for fun... as long as it stays fun I'll continue to do it.
If you don't write the book, the book ain't gonna get written.
You learn to write the same way you learn to play golf... You do it, and keep doing it until you get it right. A lot of people think something mystical happens to you, that maybe the muse kisses you on the ear. But writing isn’t divinely inspired – it’s hard work.
Success is a finished book, a stack of pages each of which is filled with words. If you reach that point, you have won a victory over yourself no less impressive than sailing single-handed around the world.
I do not over-intellectualize the production process. I try to keep it simple: Tell the damned story.