Tips for aspiring writers: don't be afraid of writing rubbish. It's very easy to become hypnotised by an empty page or screen. It's tempting to abandon a half-finished work because you can't make it perfect. I hereby give you permission to write things that aren't perfect, make mistakes, try things that don't work, experiment with styles you're not used to and generally throw words around. You'll learn much faster that way.
Frances HardingeThat," he whispered, "is unthinkable." In Moscaโs experience, such statements generally meant that a thing was perfectly thinkable, but that the speaker did not want to think it.
Frances HardingeMosca and Saracen shared, if not a friendship, at least the solidarity of the generally despised. Mosca assumed that Saracen had his reasons for his persecution of terriers and his possessive love of the malthouse roof. In turn, when Mosca had interrupted Saracenโs self-important nightly patrol and scooped him up, Saracen had assumed that she too had her reasons.
Frances HardingePerhaps illnesses could be left behind, just like small, badly concealed china corpses.
Frances HardingeDesperation is a millstone. It wears away at the very soul, grinding away pity, kindness, humanity and courage. But sometimes it whets the mind to a sharpened point and creates moments of true brilliance. And standing there, nose tickled by the dusty hide of the stuffed deer head, such a moment visited Mosca Mye.
Frances Hardinge