We forget that what matters begins with the imagination.

She has her gown nicely in place tonight, doesn't she? Black velvet and sparkles, not a thread left hanging. Clever girl, this city. Even the sky is her friend.

I didn't want readers to have to make allowances for what they couldn't see, but to be able to say to themselves that the fabric of the magic detailed was perfectly believable.

You shouldn't believe everything you hear you're young, not stupid.

We live out our lives as we are meant to live them-with some choice, with some chance, but mostly as a result of the persons we are.

Fiction writers are strange beasts. They are, like all writers, observers first and foremost. Everything that happens to and around them is potential material for a story, and they look at it that way.

Might have, could have, may have, should have—the haves and have nots reduced to pointless possibilities.