I think the kind of unexpected I really love is when you open books and the actual way of writing is different and interesting. Like reading Virginia Woolf for the first time or Lawrence Durrell for the first time.
It's really important in any historical fiction, I think, to anchor the story in its time. And you do that by weaving in those details, by, believe it or not, by the plumbing.
Having a separate bathroom for the black domestic was just the way things were done. It had faded out in new homes by the time the '70s and '80s rolled up.
Virginia Woolf: Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more. It's contrast.
Virginia Woolf: I've been attended by doctors, who inform me OF MY OWN INTERESTS.
Virginia Woolf: I am saying, Vanessa, that even crazy people like to be asked.
Virginia Woolf: Do you think I may one day escape? Vanessa Bell: One day.
Leonard Woolf: Do you think it's possible that bad writing actually attracts a higher incidence of error?
Virginia Woolf: It's on this day. This day of all days. Her fate becomes clear to her.
George: Martha is 108... years old. She weighs somewhat more than that.
Honey: They dance like they've danced before. George: It's a familiar dance, monkey nipples, they both know it.
Nick: Who did the painting? George: Some Greek with a moustache that Martha attacked one night.
George: Martha, will you show her where we keep the, uh, euphemism?
There is no amount of money I can make which could buffer my daughter from the horrors that will explode in our society if we do not address the huge amount of suffering in our midst.
People in cities may forget the soil for as long as a hundred years, but Mother Nature's memory is long and she will not let them forget indefinitely.
In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is the power to do it.
I can't wait for everyone to read 'Don't Look Back.' It's something very different for me, my first romantic suspense novel, so I'm very excited to be sharing the book, finally.
Vision is a romantic thing. We have got into 'talent identification'. I am much more interested in passion - finding people who are really excited about doing something.
May we not succumb to thoughts of violence and revenge today, but rather to thoughts of mercy and compassion. We are to love our enemies that they might be returned to their right minds.
We tend to lack humility toward love, to patronize it rather than bow before it, to put mundane considerations before the emotional need to hold someone in our arms.
I think of my books now as suspense novels, usually with a love story incorporated. They're absolutely a lot harder to write than romances. They take more plotting and real character development.
