My advice to aspiring writers of fantasy trilogies or series is that each book needs two main plots. There's the 'big story', the over-arching grand plot of the entire series, and there is the complete-in-itself, one-book plot.

You cannot poison what is between us with your foul words. She is my light in the darkness and Johnny is my pathway ahead.

As a novelist, I'm endlessly fascinated by human behavior and interactions.

How could you not know?" His voice was full of wonderment. "You changed me utterly. You were like a...like a bright, wonderful bloom in a garden full of weeds. Like a graceful capital on a page of plain script, a letter decorated with the deepest, finest colors in all Erin. Like a flame, Caitrin. Like a song.

First person allows deeper insight into the protagonist's character. It allows the reader to identify more fully with the protagonist and to share her world quite intimately. So it suits a story focused on one character's personal journey. However, first person shuts out insights into other characters.

As for religious faith, a lack of it shouldn't stop us from doing good deeds for their own sake.

The future was in our own hands. If we wanted a world where such things were possible, it was for us to make it.