I'd been so set on an escape that was now impossible, and the only form of freedom left to me was death. It was a terrible kind of freedomโone from misery and pain, yes, but also one from lightness and laughter and life. It was an absence of everything.
Alexander Gordon SmithWhen you're scared - and I mean really scared, not just hearing a noise in the night, or standing toe to toe with someone twice your size who wants to pound you into the earth - it feels as if you're being injected with darkness. It's like black water as cold as ice settling in your body where your blood and marrow used to be, pushing every other feeling out as it fills you from your feet to your scalp. It leaves you with nothing.
Alexander Gordon SmithLike I've said before, so many times before, I'm not a good person, I'm not a hero. I'm a criminal, a liar, a cheat, a killer. It was them or me and I wanted to live.
Alexander Gordon SmithGettting to know your characters is so much more important than plotting. Working out every detail of your story in advance, especially when you don't yet know your main characters, always seems a little too much like playing God. You're working out your characters' lives, their destiny, before they've had a chance to discover who they are and what kind of people they want to be.
Alexander Gordon Smith