So, whenever I'm writing, I'm writing in the presence of all the other books I've read and I think we all are.

Before she became the Girl from Nowhere-the One Who Walked In, the First and Last and Only, who lived a thousand years-she was just a little girl in Iowa, named Amy. Amy Harper Bellafonte.

My theory of characterization is basically this: Put some dirt on a hero, and put some sunshine on the villain, one brush stroke of beauty on the villain.

If you are writing any book about the end of the world, what you are really writing about is what's worth saving about it.

I saw my one purpose in that moment, looking into that little girls eyes. I was the one who was meant to save her, that was my one purpose all this time.

The sadness you feel is not your own. It's his sadness you feel in your heart, Amy, for missing you.

The military was all about hierarchies, who urinated highest on the hydrant