It wasn't even a good note. 'If you are reading this I am probably dead.' What sort of a note is that?

Writing from a teen's perspective is easy as pie. At least I've actually been a teen. I've never been a woman, or an ethnic minority, or a weary old man. If anything, writing from the perspective of a child is probably easier for me. When I was a kid everyone thought I was so clever and precocious. Now that I'm adult, everyone thinks that I'm kinda odd and childish.

You can't write good characters if you can't imagine what it's like being in another person's skin. And if you can imagine that, you naturally want other people's lives to be better. You want to make that happen.

One reason we love fiction is because stories have a comforting shape. They provide a resolution that's lacking in our regular lives.

I’d heard you were dead.” "I heard you wear a red lace corset,” I said matter-of-factly. “But I don’t believe every bit of nonsense that gets rumored about.

I like your manly bravado," she said. "Do it some more.

Owls are wise. They are careful and patient. Wisdom precludes boldness. That is why owls make poor heroes.