In Endless Quest books, you start the plot, and the character has to make choices. Then you have to write one choice over here, one choice over there. The author might get one or two choices out.

you wouldn't happen to have a pipe and a bit of tobacco about, would- i heard that! gandalf enjoyed a good pipe! why do you think he's called gandalf the gray? it wasn't for the color of his robes

A mage's soul is forged in the crucible of the magic

You choose to go voluntarily into the fire. The blaze might well destroy you. But if you survive, every blow of the hammer will serve to shape your being. Every drop of water wrung from you will temper and strengthen your soul.

A 'why' is a dangerous thing... It challenges old, comfortable ways, forces people to think about that they do instead of just mindlessly doing it. (Haplo) ... I think the danger is not so much in asking the 'why' as in believing you have come up with the only answer. (Alfred)

Why you decrepit old mage! You couldn't turn water into ice in the dead of winter!

Hope is the denial of reality.