Dawn tinted the darkness like water ink.

I thought of my mother as Queen Christina, cool and sad, eyes trained on some distant horizon. That was where she belonged, in furs and palaces of rare treasures, fireplaces large enough to roast a reindeer, ships of Swedish maple.

Your protagonist is your reader’s portal into the story. The more observant he or she can be, the more vivid will be the world you’re creating. They don’t have to be super-educated, they just have to be mentally active. Keep them looking, thinking, wondering, remembering.

A cliche is like a coin that has been handled too much. Once language has been overly handled, it no longer leaves a clear imprint.

I'm always gratified when I check something I've made up and discover that I've gotten it right. How can we imagine something that turns out to be true? How can we know things we couldn't possibly know? It makes me wonder about the existence of a collective unconscious.

I'm always looking for something new and interesting to say. And it can't be something I'm directly experiencing.

Being in the library is so addictive for me that I really have to exercise self-control so I can get some writing done at home.