I can tell you that as a writer and as a reader, I regard character as king. Or queen. No matter how riveting the action or interesting the plot twists, if I don't feel like I'm meeting someone who feels real, I'm not going to be compelled to read further.

I wish you could be kissed, Jane,' he said. 'Because I would beg just one off you. Under all this.' He flailed an arm toward the stars.

Sleep deprivation made his life an imaginary thing, his days a ribbon floating aimlessly in water." - Whelk

Sam," she said, and I crushed her to me.

There doesn't seem like there should be an artful way to butcher a cow, but there is, and this is not it.

You leave nothing to assumption," Dory Maud says. "You swallow her with your eyes. I'm surprised there's any of her left for the rest of us to see.

It's like thinking you're going to heaven, but when you get there it turns out to be Cleveland.