“
Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.
”
”
Pablo Picasso (Pablo Picasso: Metamorphoses of the Human Form : Graphic Works, 1895-1972)
“
The past can't hurt you anymore, not unless you let it.
”
”
Alan Moore (V for Vendetta)
“
First we thought the PC was a calculator. Then we found out how to turn numbers into letters with ASCII — and we thought it was a typewriter. Then we discovered graphics, and we thought it was a television. With the World Wide Web, we've realized it's a brochure.
”
”
Douglas Adams
“
None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with YOU. You're locked up in here with ME.
”
”
Alan Moore (Watchmen)
“
If one wanted to depict the whole thing graphically, every episode, with its climax, would require a three-dimensional, or, rather, no model: every experience is unrepeatable. What makes lovemaking and reading resemble each other most is that within both of them times and spaces open, different from measurable time and space.
”
”
Italo Calvino (If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler)
“
To forgive or not to forgive... are those my only choices?
”
”
Natsuki Takaya
“
Hey, he's awesome. A little unstable, but awesome. We got along great." Adrian opened the door to the building we were seeking. "And he's a badass in his way too. I mean, any other guy who wore scarves like that? He'd be laughed out of this school. Not Abe. He'd beat someone almost as badly as you would. In fact..." Adrian's voice turned nervous. I gave him a surprised look.
"In fact what?"
"Well...Abe said he liked me. But he also made it clear what he'd do to me if I ever hurt you or did anything bad." Adrian grimaced. "In fact, he described what he'd do in very graphic detail. Then, just like that, he switched to some random, happy topic. I like the guy, but he's scary.
”
”
Richelle Mead (Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy, #5))
“
Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts... A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding...
”
”
William Gibson (Neuromancer (Sprawl, #1))
“
Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.
”
”
Stan Lee
“
I want you back here now. I want you next to me now. I cannot believe that my family, your brother, all our friends, and an entire police force can't keep tabs on one twenty-six year old graphic designer who thinks he's fuckin' Batman.
--Detective Sam Kage in A Matter Of Time (vol 2 or part 4)
”
”
Mary Calmes
“
That pompous phrase (graphic novel) was thought up by some idiot in the marketing department of DC. I prefer to call them Big Expensive Comics.
”
”
Alan Moore
“
His rage passes description - the sort of rage that is only seen when rich folk that have more than they can enjoy suddenly lose something that they have long had but have never before used or wanted.
”
”
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit, Or, There And Back Again (Graphic Novel))
“
Nothing records the effects of a sad life so graphically as the human body.
”
”
Naguib Mahfouz
“
Rorschach's Journal: October 12th, 1985
Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face.
The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown.
The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!"... and I'll look down and whisper "No.
”
”
Alan Moore (Watchmen)
“
You got a lifetime. No more. No less.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 7: Brief Lives)
“
In a morbid condition, dreams are often distinguished by their remarkably graphic, vivid, and extremely lifelike quality. The resulting picture is sometimes monstrous, but the setting and the whole process of the presentation sometimes happen to be so probable, and with details so subtle, unexpected, yet artistically consistent with the whole fullness of the picture, that even the dreamer himself would be unable to invent them in reality, though he were as much an artist as Pushkin or Turgenev. Such dreams, morbid dreams, are always long remembered and produce a strong impression on the disturbed and already excited organism of the person.Raskolnikov had a terrible dream.
”
”
Fyodor Dostoevsky (Crime and Punishment)
“
To insinuate that I would break an oath that I made to the ALMIGHTY for my own personal gain is an insult. An insult to me and an insult to the Order. An insult, worthy of death.
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies...but the silence of our friends.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
”
”
Mark Long (The Silence of Our Friends)
“
Have you ever been in love? Horrible, isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses. You build up this whole armor, for years, so nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life… You give them a piece of you. They don't ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss you, or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so a simple phrase like "maybe we should just be friends" or "how very perceptive" turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a body-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. Nothing should be able to do that. Especially not love. I hate love.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
“
For some folks death is release, and for others death is an abomination, a terrible thing. But in the end, I'm there for all of them.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 3: Dream Country)
“
Presidents, Senators, Congressmen, Governors, Mayors, Judges and Justices all fall prey to the Hitman.
”
”
R.B. Le`Deach (My Graphic Bipolar Fantasies: & Other Short Stories)
“
The book is almost always better than the movie. You could have no better case in point than FROM HELL, Alan Moore's best graphic novel to date, brilliantly illustrated by Eddie Campbell. It's hard to describe just how much better the book is.
It's like, "If the movie was an episode of Battlestar Galactica with a guest appearance by the Smurfs and everyone spoke Dutch, the graphic novel is Citizen Kane with added sex scenes and music by your favourite ten bands and everyone in the world you ever hated dies at the end."
That's how much better it is.
”
”
Warren Ellis
“
I’m not putting my faith or life in anyone’s hands. All that ever got me was screwed, and my ass is currently sore from it. (Wren)
Nice imagery there, tiger. Graphic. Ever think of writing children’s books? (Fury)
”
”
Sherrilyn Kenyon (Unleash the Night (Dark Hunter, #8; Were-Hunter, #2))
“
Maybe the flies knew we were leaving. Maybe they were happy for us.
”
”
Eli Wilde (Orchard of Skeletons)
“
A gun is a liar's weapon
”
”
Frank Miller
“
There is a madness, yes, this is true. Few mortals possess it, the willingness to step away from the protection of sanity. To walk into the wild wood of madness...
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones)
“
The stuff you bring back from dreams is free.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 7: Brief Lives)
“
My own style grew out of my work as a graphic designer. I try to express the essence of my stories and ideals very clearly, using simple shapes, often in bright colors against a white background. You might almost think of my illustrations, and especially the cover art, as little posters.
”
”
Eric Carle
“
She was overwhelmed with a premonition. Deja vu but from the future, looking back to this moment looking forward.
”
”
William Kely McClung (Black Fire)
“
There has to be a cut-off somewhere between the freedom of expression and a graphically explicit free-for-all.
”
”
E.A. Bucchianeri (Brushstrokes of a Gadfly (Gadfly Saga, #1))
“
... so I leaned down and put my mouth on him.
He jerked at the contact with a barked, “Shit,” and I laughed around him, even as I took him deeper into my mouth.
His hands were now fisted in the sheets, white-knuckled as I slid my tongue over him, grazing slightly with my teeth. His groan was fire to my blood.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2))
“
One second, he was in my mouth, my tongue flicking over the broad head of him; the next, his hands were on my waist and I flipped onto my front. He nudged my legs apart with his knees, spreading me as he gripped my hips, tugging them up, up before he sheathed himself deep in me with a single stroke.
I moaned into the pillow at every glorious inch of him, rising onto my forearms as my fingers grappled into the sheets.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2))
“
When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree by the river of truth, and tell the whole world 'No, You Move.
”
”
J. Michael Straczynski
“
Okay, sure, he’s a great fucking guy,” Michaels didn’t try to hide his frustration. “Except for the killing everybody part.
”
”
William Kely McClung (Black Fire)
“
Simon’s love life was complicated, but there was a pang, just for a moment, for this woman talking graphic novels with him.
Ah, well. Tessa Gray, foxy nerd, was probably dating someone already.
”
”
Cassandra Clare (The Whitechapel Fiend (Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, #3))
“
Continue your search for the truth but remember one thing--all things are possible.
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
It was time to start thinking of darker things.
”
”
William Kely McClung (Black Fire)
“
You can make your superhero a psychopath, you can draw gut-splattering violence, and you can call it a "graphic novel," but comic books are still incredibly stupid.
”
”
Bill Watterson
“
I've seen so many versions of you. With me. Without me. Artist. Teacher. Graphic designer. But it's all, in the end, just life. We see it macro, like one big story, but when you're in it, it's all just day-to-day, right? And isn't that what you have to make your peace with?
”
”
Blake Crouch (Dark Matter)
“
I would have hoped you would have learned by now. No matter, a man who refuses to face his destiny offers himself to the GOD of chance—and chance is a wayward bitch.
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
Like O'Rielly, we'll grab the most important word of each sentence... 'The' for example. Also, I'll say, 'I'm angry,' and the graphic will read, 'Colbert angry.
”
”
Stephen Colbert
“
The Slice and Dice Fanatic uses his sexual skills to lure his victims into his realm of fun.
”
”
R.B. Le`Deach (My Graphic Bipolar Fantasies: & Other Short Stories)
“
I think I’m under control, that I’ve stripped away all weaknesses. That committing to my mission has made me impervious. I’m wrong. The thought of Barrons smiling brings other thoughts.
Barrons naked.
Dancing.
Dark head thrown back.
Laughing.
The image doesn’t “gently swim up in my mind” in a dreamy sort of way, like I’ve seen in movies. No, this one slams into my head like a nuclear missile, exploding in my brain in graphic detail. I suffocate in a mushroom cloud of pain.
I can’t breathe. I squeeze my eyes shut.
White teeth flashing in his dark face: I get knocked down but I get up again. You’re never gonna keep me down.
I stagger.
But he didn’t get up, the bastard. He stayed down.
”
”
Karen Marie Moning (Shadowfever (Fever, #5))
“
Of course we're Criminals
”
”
Frank Miller (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns)
“
Sometimes you have to let your life get messy. That's how you get to the good parts
”
”
Molly Knox Ostertag (The Girl from the Sea)
“
This is a war," Lemas replied. "It's graphic and unpleasant because it's fought on a tiny scale, at close range; fought with a wastage of innocent life sometimes, I admit. But it's nothing, nothing at all besides other wars - the last or the next.
”
”
John Le Carré (The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (George Smiley, #3))
“
Read not the Times, read the Eternities.
”
”
Henry David Thoreau
“
You are one, and we are many, We are everywhere and nowhere at the same time. We are the face of justice.
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
Alec dragged the heavy canvas bag out of the back of the van, dropping it on the sidewalk. "Ready to go." He announced. "Lets kick some demon butt!"
Jace looked at him a little oddly. "You alright?
”
”
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (City of Bones: Graphic Novel, #2))
“
Fear, your fear takes hold of you…I can smell it. You are in my world now, and in my world, darkness is light.
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
Crooked politicians stood in the way of our President until the Hitman doled out justice for them.
”
”
R.B. Le`Deach (My Graphic Bipolar Fantasies: & Other Short Stories)
“
Please read this [book] so I'll have someone to talk about it with? I'll get you cigarettes.
”
”
Fiona Staples (Saga, Volume 2)
“
Everyone is so enamored with the puppet; they never notice the man pulling the strings.
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
The Order? Here inside such a weak soul?”
“His spirit is failing, his faith too old."
“He cannot be saved."
“Few have tried."
“He is consumed by the lion."
“He is overtaken by pride.
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
I cannot believe that my family, your brother, all our friends, and an entire police force can’t keep tabs on one twenty-six-year-old graphic designer who thinks he’s fuckin’ Batman.
”
”
Mary Calmes (A Matter of Time, Vol. 2 (A Matter of Time, #3-4))
“
Ignorance is ultimately the worst enemy of a people who want to be free.
”
”
Jonathan Hennessey (The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation)
“
We have a name," said Jace. "Magnes B-"
"Shut up." Alec hissed, thwacking Jace with his closed menu. Jace looked injured.
"Jesus," he rubbed his arm. "What's your problem?
”
”
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (City of Bones: Graphic Novel, #2))
“
Boy, you are a hothead, Bane. Your rage makes you an exceptional warrior but quite a boring conversationalist. Good thing I did not keep you for your manners and charm, eh? Now calm down, your spittle is getting all over me, my feet do not require a shower."
-Michael, The ArchAngel
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
HANG THE LAW AND FUCK THE RULES! Where is your love for others? Where is your compassion? All these warriors want is a chance to serve. Doesn’t their love supersede your rules?
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
They could see she was a real Princess and no question about it, now that she had felt one pea all the way through twenty mattresses and twenty more feather beds. Nobody but a Princess could be so delicate.
”
”
Hans Christian Andersen (The Princess and the Pea: The Graphic Novel (Graphic Spin))
“
Law and order during 2020 seemed to slip past most communities until the Vigilante stepped into view and began his own style of justice.
”
”
R.B. Le`Deach (My Graphic Bipolar Fantasies: & Other Short Stories)
“
You have a valid complaint, and I do recognize it ... but you are reading into things a little bit. Just the same, I will do my best to make horrible things happen to a bunch of white people before something else so graphic hits a minority character.
”
”
Robert Kirkman
“
Every time you look up at the stars, it’s like opening a door. You could be anyone, anywhere. You could be yourself at any moment in your life. You open that door and you realize you’re the same person under the same stars. Camping out in the backyard with your best friend, eleven years old. Sixteen, driving alone, stopping at the edge of the city, looking up at the same stars. Walking a wooded path, kissing in the moonlight, look up and you’re eleven again. Chasing cats in a tiny town, you’re eleven again, you’re sixteen again. You’re in a rowboat. You’re staring out the back of a car. Out here where the world begins and ends, it’s like nothing ever stops happening.
”
”
Bryan Lee O'Malley (Lost at Sea)
“
I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it's very difficult to find anyone.
”
”
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit: or There and Back Again (Graphic Novel, Book 3))
“
You heard me. A creature from another world, a dark world, lurks the halls of Hellgate, tormenting victims at will. A grotesque, gnarled, twisted creature, with thick iron stakes impaled into its body, whip marks across its chest and back-- the beast got inside my brain.
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
Victims exist in a society that tells us our purpose is to be an inspiring story. But sometimes the best we can do is tell you we're still here, and that should be enough. Denying darkness does not bring anyone closer to the light. When you hear a story about rape, all the graphic and unsettling details, resist the instinct to turn away; instead loo closer, because beneath the gore and the police reports is a whole, beautiful person, looking for ways to be in the world again.
”
”
Chanel Miller (Know My Name)
“
It would ha' been a good deal easier, if ye'd only been a witch.
”
”
Diana Gabaldon (The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel)
“
Boomerang arrow, Kate -- It comes back to you in the end. Boomerang. Respect it.
”
”
Matt Fraction (Hawkeye, Volume 1: My Life as a Weapon)
“
The school board banned one of Maya Angelou's books, so the librarian had to take down her poster.
I fished it out of the trash.
She must be a great writer if the school board is scared of her.
”
”
Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak: The Graphic Novel)
“
Above all else show the data.
”
”
Edward R. Tufte (The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd Ed.)
“
Eighty-year-old granny protects her right to vote with a shotgun.
”
”
R.B. Le`Deach (My Graphic Bipolar Fantasies: & Other Short Stories)
“
Maybe my legs are moving toward the house because that’s what they want to do rather than me wanting to go there.”
I walked toward the house.
Macy’s legs followed.
”
”
Eli Wilde (Orchard of Skeletons)
“
There are a number of paths that lead to this place. I have been avoiding them for some small time, now.
”
”
Neil Gaiman (The Sandman, Vol. 7: Brief Lives)
“
Monster? Monster, you say?” He scratched his chest, blood dripping from what seemed to be an old wound. “No, my friend. I have SEEN real monsters. I have faced real darkness, heart beating out of your chest with death all around you. The stench of piss and shit as men empty themselves in their final moments. I have experienced real terror. Terror, a simple man like you, could never fathom
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
You have to be brave before you can be good.
”
”
Brian K. Vaughan (Saga, Volume 5)
“
Does Batman ever NOT have a plan...?
”
”
Mark Waid (Kingdom Come #2: Truth and Justice)
“
Have you ever thought about why GOD did it? Why tempt such fragile beings in the first place? Did GOD give the race of man free will, knowing that they would use that will to defy him, or to take it a step further since GOD knows all, did he know that Adam and Eve would eat the forbidden fruit, allowing him to cast them out of paradise to toil and suffer for a living.
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
If you can't tell your story to another human, find another way: journal, paint, make your grief into a graphic novel with a very dark storyline. Or go out to the woods and tell the trees. It is an immense relief to be able to tell your story without someone trying to fix it. The trees will not ask, "How are you really?" and the wind doesn't care if you cry.
”
”
Megan Devine (It's OK That You're Not OK)
“
If there's anything I'm proud of in my work--it's not that I draw better; there's so many better graphic artists than me--or that I write better, no. It's--and I'm not saying I know the truth, because what the hell is that? But what I got from Ruth and Dave, a kind of fierce honesty, to not let the kid down, to not let the kid get punished, to not suffer the child to be dealt with in a boring, simpering, crushing-of-the-spirit kind of way.
”
”
Maurice Sendak
“
A lot of people who came into my family's life looking like heroes ended up acting more like villains.
”
”
Brian K. Vaughan (Saga, Volume 4)
“
I've died before. It was boring, so I stood up.
”
”
Warren Ellis (Moon Knight, Vol. 1: From the Dead)
“
We are told to remember the idea and not the man. Because a man can fail. He can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten. But 400 years later, an idea can still change the world. I have witnessed firsthand the power of ideas. I've seen people kill in the name of them. But you cannot kiss an idea... cannot touch it or hold it.
Ideas do not bleed. They do not feel pain. They do not love. And it is not an idea that I miss. It is a man.
A man that made me remember the 5th of November. A man that I will never forget.
”
”
Alan Moore (V for Vendetta)
“
Do you see anything when you dream or are your dreams as empty as your eyes?
”
”
Eli Wilde (Orchard of Skeletons)
“
I always knew it would come down to you and the big blue school boy. Planet's too big for the BOTH of you. When it all comes down, I want a piece of him. A small piece, will do? For OLD TIMES, sake, you know..it still hurts when its cold.
”
”
Frank Miller
“
Art is nothing more than creating an emotion in your own form.
”
”
Shannon L. Alder
“
A spark is exactly what it means. An igniting of something that spreads, and soon it becomes difficult to contain. The sparks, in this case, represent sin, not just any sin, a major undertaking of evil that spreads and infects life, changing the way humans live forever." " The Everlasting protects man for six of these catastrophes, but once there is a seventh, well… anything goes."
"I’m not destroying man; I’m saving man--from themselves.
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
Despite wanting me to end her life, after a short while, Mrs Sloan fought back with surprising strength for such a small woman. Being close to death changed people, I guess, like drinking alcohol or someone saying your handwriting is beautiful changes you.
”
”
Eli Wilde (Orchard of Skeletons)
“
We are Knights of the Trinity, Angels of the Third Realm of Heaven
Warriors of The Almighty
Defenders of Righteousness, Truth. And Justice
Protectors of the Weak and Downtrodden
Guardians of the realms of men.
We pledge our spirits, our swords, and our shields in service,
Not for glory, not for pride, but for the honor to serve the Most-High
May the forces of Darkness tremble in our wake and die at our hands! We are the Chosen Twelve, the Blessed, the Mighty War-riors of the Everlasting Order
Hazah! Hazah! Hazah!
”
”
J.B. Lion (The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity)
“
Even at the end of the road, read the first sentence, there is a road. Even at the end of the road, a new road stretches out, endless and open, a road that may lead anywhere. To him who will find it, there is always a road.
”
”
D.J. MacHale (Pendragon Before the War: Book Two of the Travelers (Pendragon (Graphic Novels)))
“
I know this because the worst has happened. The thing I can’t live with… has happened. And for all our back and forth— and all the things we’ve said and done to each other… there’s one thing that I’ll never be able to tell anyone now… The one thing! The one thing I should have told you. But now I can’t… It wasn't worth it.
”
”
Brian Michael Bendis
“
The idea of thinking in a linguistic yet nonphonological mode always intrigued me. I had a friend born of deaf parents; he grew up using American Sign Language, and he told me that he often thought in ASL instead of English. I used to wonder what it was like to have one’s thoughts be manually coded, to reason using an inner pair of hands instead of an inner voice. With Heptapod B, I was experiencing something just as foreign: my thoughts were becoming graphically coded. There were trance-like moments during the day when my thoughts weren’t expressed with my internal voice; instead, I saw semagrams with my mind’s eye, sprouting like frost on a windowpane. As
”
”
Ted Chiang (Stories of Your Life and Others)
“
I picked up a fallen branch and struck a tree with it. Apples fell from the tree. The rope around one of the skeletons gave way and it fell to the ground. It lay there, crumpled and bent in ridiculous angles. I wondered if the person who the skeleton used to live inside would be embarrassed if he or she could see themselves now. I looked around the area but didn’t see any ghosts. Why would I see a ghost? They didn’t exist. Still, I looked a second time.
”
”
Eli Wilde (Orchard of Skeletons)
“
Nowadays I’m really cranky about comics. Because most of them are just really, really poorly written soft-core. And I miss good old storytelling. And you know what else I miss? Super powers. Why is it now that everybody’s like “I can reverse the polarity of your ions!” Like in one big flash everybody’s Doctor Strange. I like the guys that can stick to walls and change into sand and stuff. I don’t understand anything anymore. And all the girls are wearing nothing, and they all look like they have implants. Well, I sound like a very old man, and a cranky one, but it’s true.
”
”
Joss Whedon
“
I'm trained as an architect; writing is like architecture. In buildings, there are design motifs that occur again and again, that repeat -- patterns, curves. These motifs help us feel comfortable in a physical space. And the same works in writing, I've found. For me, the way words, punctuation and paragraphs fall on the page is important as well -- the graphic design of the language. That was why the words and thoughts of Estha and Rahel, the twins, were so playful on the page ... I was being creative with their design. Words were broken apart, and then sometimes fused together. "Later" became "Lay. Ter." "An owl" became "A Nowl." "Sour metal smell" became "sourmetal smell."
Repetition I love, and used because it made me feel safe. Repeated words and phrases have a rocking feeling, like a lullaby. They help take away the shock of the plot -- death, lives destroyed or the horror of the settings -- a crazy, chaotic, emotional house, the sinister movie theater.
”
”
Arundhati Roy
“
My father wrote beautifully,” Esmé interrupted. “I’m saving a number of his letters for posterity.”
I said that sounded like a very good idea. I happened to be looking at her enormous-faced, chrono-graphic-looking wristwatch again. I asked if it had belonged to her father.
She looked down at her wrist solemnly. “Yes, it did,” she said. “He gave it to me just before Charles and I were evacuated.” Self-consciously, she took her hand off the table, saying, “Purely as a momento, of course.” She guided the conversation in a different direction. “I’d be extremely flattered if you’d write a story exclusively for me sometime. I’m an avid reader.”
I told her I certainly would, if I could. I said that I wasn’t terribly prolific.
“It doesn’t have to be terribly prolific! Just so that isn’t childish and silly.” She reflected. “I prefer stories about squalor.”
“About what?” I said, leaning forward.
“Squalor. I’m extremely interested in squalor.
”
”
J.D. Salinger (Nine Stories)
“
I guess at some point we fell in love, whatever that means. What the fuck is love anyway? Is it mutual dependance; two bipolar opposites bringing their failings together, making a comprehensive hole? Is it needing someone around all the time, just to feel like yourself? Is it a form of madness— all those cells & neurons giggling like moon-happy coyotes? Is it missing someone, feeling a physical craving for them, even when they are lying right next to you? Yes, I guess we fell in love.
”
”
Barnaby Legg (Godspeed: The Kurt Cobain Graphic)
“
A TV show comprises many departments—Costumes, Props, Talent, Graphics, Set Dressing, Transportation. Everyone in every department wants to show off their skills and contribute creatively to the show, which is a blessing. You’re grateful to work with people who are talented and enthusiastic about their jobs. You would think that as a producer, your job would be to churn up creativity, but mostly your job is to police enthusiasm. You may have an occasion where the script calls for a bran muffin on a white plate and the Props Department shows up with a bran cake in the shape of Santa Claus sitting on a silver platter that says “Welcome to Denmark.” “We just thought it would be funny.” And you have to find a polite way to explain that the character is Jewish, so her eating Santa’s face might have negative connotations, and the silver tray, while beautiful, is giving a weird glare on camera and maybe let’s go with the bran muffin on the white plate. And then sometimes Actors have what they call “ideas.” Usually it involves them talking more, or, in the case of more experienced actors, sitting more. When Actors have ideas it’s very important to get to the core reason behind their idea.
”
”
Tina Fey (Bossypants)
“
I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was. Likewise, I never imagined that home might be something I would miss. Yet as we stood loading our boats in the breaking dawn, on a brand new precipice of Before and After, I thought of everything I was about to leave behind―my parents, my town, my once-best-and-only-friend―and I realized that leaving wouldn't be like I had imagined, like casting of a weight. Their memory was something tangible and heavy, and I would carry it with me.
”
”
Ransom Riggs (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children Graphic Novels, #1))
“
In one way, at least, our lives really are like movies. The main cast consists of your family and friends. The supporting cast is made up of neighbors, co-workers, teachers, and daily acquaintances. There are also bit players: the supermarket checkout girl with the pretty smile, the friendly bartender at the local watering hole, the guys you work out with at the gym three days a week. And there are thousands of extras --those people who flow through every life like water through a sieve, seen once and never again. The teenager browsing a graphic novel at Barnes & Noble, the one you had to slip past (murmuring "Excuse me") in order to get to the magazines. The woman in the next lane at a stoplight, taking a moment to freshen her lipstick. The mother wiping ice cream off her toddler's face in a roadside restaurant where you stopped for a quick bite. The vendor who sold you a bag of peanuts at a baseball game. But sometimes a person who fits none of these categories comes into your life. This is the joker who pops out of the deck at odd intervals over the years, often during a moment of crisis. In the movies this sort of character is known as the fifth business, or the chase agent. When he turns up in a film, you know he's there because the screenwriter put him there. But who is screenwriting our lives? Fate or coincidence? I want to believe it's the latter. I want that with all my heart and soul.
”
”
Stephen King (Revival)
“
You may set your mind at rest, Miss Anstruther-Wetherby." He glanced down, the planes of his face granite-hard. "I'm not marrying you because of any social stricture. That, if you consider it, is a nonsensical idea. Cynsters, as you well know, do not give a damn about social strictures. Society, as far as we're concerned, can think what it pleases—it does not rule us."
"But… if that's the case—and given your reputation I can readily believe it is—why insist on marrying me?"
"Because I want to."
The words were delivered as the most patently obvious answer to a simple question. Honoria held on to her temper. "Because you want to?"
He nodded.
"That's it? Just because you want to?"
The look he sent her was calculated to quell. "For a Cynster, that's a perfectly adequate reason. In fact, for a Cynster, there is no better reason."
He looked ahead again; Honoria glanced at his profile. "This is ridiculous. You only set eyes on me yesterday, and now you want to marry me?"
Again he nodded.
"Why?"
The glance he shot her was too brief for her to read. "It so happens I need a wife, and you're the perfect candidate." With that, he altered their direction and lengthened his stride even more.
"I am not a racehorse."
His lips thinned, but he slowed--just enough so she didn't have to run. They'd gained the graveled walk that circled the house. It took her a moment to replay his words, another to see their weakness. "That's still ridiculous. You must have half the female population of the ton waiting to catch your handkerchief every time you blow your nose."
He didn't even glance her way. "At least half."
"So why me?"
Devil considered telling her--in graphic detail. Instead, he gritted his teeth and growled: "Because you're unique."
"Unique?"
Unique in that she was arguing.
”
”
Stephanie Laurens (Devil's Bride (Cynster, #1))