My dear Elinor, you were obviously born into the wrong story,” said Dustfinger at last.

Which of us has not felt that the character we are reading in the printed page is more real than the person standing beside us?

I will try to write books until I drop dead.

Fire and water," he said, "don't really mix. You could say they're incompatible. But when they do love each other, they love passionately.

Thats beautiful! Sad and beautiful," murmured Meggie. Why were sad stories often so beautiful? It was different in real life.

believe me. Sometimes when life looks to be at its grimmest, there's a light hidden at the heart of things. Clive Barker, Abarat

Desperate? So what? I'm desperate, too!" Fenoglio snapped at her. "My story is foundering in misfortune, and these hands here," he said holding them out to her, "don't want to write anymore! I'm afraid of words Meggie! 'Once they were like honey, now they're poison, pure poison! But what is a writer who doesn't love words anymore? What have I come to? This story is devouring me, crushing me, and I'm it's creator!