I emitted some civetlike female stink, a distinct perfume of sexual wanting, that he had followed to find me here in the dark.

without my wounds, who was I? My scars were my face, my past was my life.

She would buy magic every day of the week. Love me, that face said. I'm so lonely, so desperate. I'll give you whatever you want.

The best you'll ever do is to understand yourself, know what it is that you want, and not let the cattle stand in your way.

Once you get below the floor of our personal identities, we're all connected. Perhaps that's why we can move into others' lives.

Always tell us where we are. And don't just tell us where something is, make it pay off. Use description of landscape to help you establish the emotional tone of the scene. Keep notes of how other authors establish mood and foreshadow events by describing the world around the character. Look at the openings of Fitzgerald stories, and Graham Greene, they're great at this.

I felt suddenly cruel, like I´d told dmall children there was no tooth fairy, that it was just their Mom sneaking into their room after they went to bed.