I've been accused of trying too hard to rescue people
The place was a familiar as breath but as far from his life now as the moon.
He had never even glimpsed her.
She had died at age twelve, and by now she was nothing but the memory of love-- nothing, now, but bones.
She saw herself moving through another life, an exotic, difficult, satisfying life.
The Lake of Dreams grew gradually, over many years, elements and ideas accruing until they gained enough critical mass to become a novel.