The pressing need to decide whether to use a comma or semicolon; whether to employ a dialogue tag, what that tag should be, and whether it should come before or after the speaker’s name; the extent to which the use of adverbs must be limited; whether the best choice for a lead character was a perky brain surgeon or maybe a moody homicide detective or perhaps a perky homicide detective studying to fulfill his or her dream of becoming a moody brain surgeon—several such decisions needed to be made every minute of a workday, without surcease. Any wrong choice could lead to a finished novel that,
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