When you read a fantasy novel part of the fun is getting to explore a new world. Everyone knows that. But I believe the same is true about characters. You can explore interesting people in the same way that you explore a town or a culture.

Secrets of the heart. We swallow hard against them every day, forcing them deep inside us. There they sit, growing heavier, festering. Given enough time, they cannot help but crush the heart that holds them.

The boy grows upward, but the girl grows up.

If you are going to impose your will on the world, you must have control over what you believe.

I will say the most raw joy I've experienced reading has probably come from the times I've been reading with my little boys.

You never do things the easy way, do you?" she said. "There's an easy way?" I asked.

It's one thing to not want an evil-sorcerer type villain in your story, but it's another thing to avoid having any sort of antagonist at all. A story without an antagonist gets weird pretty quick.