One reason we love fiction is because stories have a comforting shape. They provide a resolution that’s lacking in our regular lives.
It’s my belief that you should never show your work to anyone in the publishing world until it shines like a diamond. Rough drafts don’t shine, as a rule. Mine certainly didn’t. That’s why I was rejected for years and years.
She was a wicked thing sometimes. All full of want. As if the shape of the world depended on her mood. As if she were important.
When you read a fantasy novel part of the fun is getting to explore a new world. Everyone knows that. But I believe the same is true about characters. You can explore interesting people in the same way that you explore a town or a culture.
Do not mistake me for my mask. You see light dappling on the water and forget the deep, cold dark beneath.
When you love something, you have to make sure it loves you back, or you’ll bring about no end of trouble chasing it.
Only a fool worries over what he can’t control.
That is like throwing two virgins into a bed. Enthusiasm, passion, and ignorance are not a good combination. Someone is likely to get hurt.
It’s easier to write about heartbreak after you’ve had your heart broken. You have more material to draw from, you can extrapolate from your own experiences and make reasonable assumptions about how your characters would feel and act.
There are few things as nauseating as pure obedience.
Just handle the books gently and you’ll get along fine.
Why would I want to win anything other than a beautiful game?
My bad luck got tangled up with my bad decisions, and I’m paying for it.
The air was heavy with the smell of leather and dust, of old parchment and binding glue. It smelled of secrets.
But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. This is rare and pure and perfect.
My shrug was so nonchalant it would make a cat jealous.
Isn’t that the way of the world? We want the sweet things, but we need the unpleasant ones.
He had a bright, reckless tenor that was always wandering off, looking for notes in the wrong places.
All explicit knowledge is translated knowledge, and all translation is imperfect.
Fencing is more a sport than a martial art. It would be like basing your knowledge of roman phalanx warfare on NFL football.