"it Was Like Something Cracked Open Inside Of Me, Not Unlike A Watermelon, Cool And Soothing Sweet. I

One thing I’ve learned about writing is ”give everything a face”. It’s no good to write passively that the nobility fled the city or that the toxic marshes were poisoning the animals beyond any ability to function. Make a protagonist see how a desperate woman in torn silks climbs onto a carriage and speeds off, or a two-headed deer wanders right into the camp and into the fire. Don’t just have an ambiguous flock of all-controlling oligarchy, name one or two representatives of it, and illustrate just how vile and greedy they are as people.

it’s bad to have characters who serve no purpose in the story, but giving something a face is a perfectly valid purpose.

“It never really goes away, the longing for the life not lived, because isn’t that part of how we come to know ourselves too? Through what we lack as much as what we have, all we dream but do not hold. Some desires have no resolution.”

— Madelaine Lucas, Thirst for Salt (Tin House Books, March 7, 2023) 

“You must want to spend the rest of your life with yourself first.”

— Rupi Kaur, Milk and Honey

“She was the kind of person who took care of things by herself. She’d never ask anybody for advice or help. It wasn’t a matter of pride, I think. She just did what seemed natural to her.”

— Haruki Murakami

Help in Time (Charles Verlat, 1872)

"The secrets you tell me I'll take to my grave, There's bones in my closet, but you hang stuff anyway"

-Guillotine, Jon Bellion

I should be sleeping. But I’m thinking of you. I’m always thinking about you.

Igor Henrique

If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.

Lemony Snicket

“Too often, the only escape is sleep.”

— Charles Bukowski