"I loved short stories, and they were all I wanted to write. I love the compression of them and the exactitude needed to get a whole world into such a small space."

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This involves more than I can discuss here, but do it. Read the writers of great prose dialogue-people like Robert Stone and Joan Didion. Compression, saying as little as possible, making everything carry much more than is actually said. Conflict. Dialogue as part of an ongoing world, not just voices in a dark room. Never say the obvious. Skip the meet and greet.

— Janet Fitch