When someone tells you a piece of their life, they're giving you a gift, not granting you your due.

It doesn't eat meat." I said. "It's a herbivore. It's like a big cow." Denna looked at me and started to laugh. Not hysterical laughter, but the helpless laughter of someone who's just heard something so funny they can't help but bubble over with it. She put her hands over her mouth and shook with it, the only sound was a low huffing that escaped through her fingers. There was another flash of blue fire from below. Denna froze midlaugh, then took her hands away from her mouth. She looked at me, her eyes wide, and spoke softly with a slight quaver in her voice, "Mooooo.

You,” I said, “are sweet music in a distant room.

My bad luck got tangled up with my bad decisions, and I'm paying for it.

Just because I tread heavily on propriety's toes doesn't mean I can't play the game when it's of use to me.

Character is half the reason we read. We're excited because of the plot, but we care because of the characters.

Some tropes are universal. Boy meets girl. Betrayal and revenge. The search to discover a hidden truth.... A mother's love isn't cliché, it's universal. These things are archetypes. They're the building blocks of myth and legend. They are a big part about what it means to be human.