Authentic Tone Quotes

Even when I was in school, I was doing papers and writing poems; I always had an edge to my delivery. It was never conscious, but it was more so my organic way of thinking about things.

Good first drafts and speedy responses to consumer dialog will always trump lawyered corporate speak.

I like to write in fairly everyday language - I've always tried to write lyrics that, if people would speak the words, it wouldn't sound like a song.

The key for me with 'Star Wars' is to stay in their world. Don't get in the way of what is already known and what works. I think of the basic nature of the filmmaking process that worked so well for the original trilogy. No stylistic flights of fancy for the sake of showing off. Tell the story, get the shot, get the performances, and move on.

I don't just want my books to be about the '30s and '40s. I want them to read as if they had been written then. I think of them as '40s novels, written in the conservative narrative past.

Speak your dialogue out loud. If it sounds like the way people talk, then write it down.

Older teens tend to write to me and say, 'Thank you for not writing down to teenagers.'

I love 'hearing a person's face' in their music. I've been told by fans that they can tell when I'm smiling or feeling mischievous in my voice - that's a huge compliment.

Never be grandiloquent when you want to drive home a searching truth. Don't whip with a switch that has the leaves on, if you want it to tingle.