Rachel Aaron Quotes & Sayings

Why are mortals always so eager to declare things impossible, anyway? It's not like things do or don't exist just because you say so. — Rachel Aaron

Don't tell me the Pigeon Whisperer dragged you into one of his stupid schemes. — Rachel Aaron

Don't try to nice your way out of this. It's insulting. — Rachel Aaron

First rule of thievery,' Eli said, grinning, 'only run if you're not coming back.' ( ... ) 'First rule of thievery, never use the same entrance twice.' Miranda rolled her eyes. 'How many 'first rules' of thievery do you have?' 'When one mistake can mean your head on a pike, every rule's a first rule,' Eli said cheerfully. — Rachel Aaron

Writing a very personal journey, but that doesn't mean it has to be a slow one. Sometimes, all it takes is a new way of looking at the problem to change everything. — Rachel Aaron

How did you get in here?' ( ... ) 'How I got here isn't important, because I could do it twenty times again, each time a different way. — Rachel Aaron

Every writing session after this realization, I dedicated five minutes (sometimes more, never less) and wrote out a quick description of what I was going to write that day. — Rachel Aaron

That said, some of my best scenes and most dramatic scenes have actually been the ones I've combined to get my word count down. — Rachel Aaron

Help us, Juli-wan Kenobi, you're our only hope."
For a moment, that almost, almost made Julius feel like a hero. And then he remembered. "Doesn't Obi-Wan die in that movie? — Rachel Aaron

As soon as the cold became uncomfortable, Eli had opened his shirt and had a nice long chat with the burn on his chest. Karon was happy to help them stick it to the ice and wind spirits, and he cheerfully kept the air around Eli as warm and dry as a smokehouse.
"I only wish it didn't reek of sulfur," Josef said, pressing up the mountainside. "I'd almost rather deal with the cold."
"Well, don't let me stop you," Eli huffed, though even he looked a little green. "Who am I to stand between a man and his frostbite? — Rachel Aaron

If I had scenes that were so boring I didn't want to write them, then there was no way anyone would want to read them. This was my novel, after all. If I didn't love it, no one would. — Rachel Aaron

Specifically, I ask that my scenes do three things: Advance the story Reveal new information Pull the reader forward — Rachel Aaron

Nothing good ever happened when you woke up in a room with a drain. — Rachel Aaron

Even if you're not selling your stories yet, your writing time is precious, often gained at the expense of other worthwhile activities. Don't waste it on a book you don't love. — Rachel Aaron

Once I shifted my thinking, though, I stopped roughing myself up and started asking Why? Why don't you want to write? What's wrong? And while the answers were never pleasant (because really, it's no fun to realize you messed up and now you have to rewrite a scene, or a chapter, or half a book), they were progress, and they were necessary. They were also extremely good for me, because once I got my story back on the right track, my bad writing days vanished, my daily word counts shot up, the quality of my writing improved, and life in general got a whole lot better. — Rachel Aaron

I am a mage," she replied with every ounce of haughtiness three years in a competitive doctoral program had taught her. "We bend the rules of the universe on a daily basis. Presumptuousness is the base line for entry. — Rachel Aaron

We have a very busy schedule of cryptic proclamations and appearing where we're least expected to get back to. — Rachel Aaron

What we did and who we were are just dregs compared to who we are now and how we act when the sword is coming down. — Rachel Aaron

Their anger just knocked us all down from halfway across the world," Bob reminded him. "I don't think running a few more feet is going to do us any good. — Rachel Aaron

The longer I wrote, the faster I wrote, and, I believe, the better I wrote. — Rachel Aaron

The single most efficient change you can make isn't actually upping your daily word count, but eliminating the days where you are not writing. — Rachel Aaron

For example, I keep all my actual writing in the Manuscript section divided by chapter, and then, in the research section, I have folders for Setting, Characters, and Plot with a separate area for my cuts file (where I put big blocks of text that I've cut out of the story but can't bring myself to delete yet) and my writing worksheet, which is the table I use to keep track of my word counts. — Rachel Aaron

One of the hardest things I've had to learn as a writer is that while virtually any story can be a good book if done correctly, not every story should. It's possible to have an amazing idea and still lack the interest necessary to polish it to publication level shine. I can not tell you the number of books I've plotted, written 30k words in, and then abandoned because I simply could not stand to look at them another second. Every single one of these ideas looked great on paper, and maybe in another author's hands they could have been golden, but in the end I just didn't care enough to push through. — Rachel Aaron

Now, instead of treating bad writing days as random, unavoidable disasters to be weathered, like thunderstorms, I started treating them as red flags. — Rachel Aaron

Putting my book down should be the hardest thing my reader has to do that day. Authorship is a merciless business! — Rachel Aaron

So far as I can tell, 'good dragon' is just another name for coldblooded sociopath," he said. "No friends, no trust, no love. Why would I ever want to live like that? It's not like any of you good dragons are happy. — Rachel Aaron

So, I started keeping records. Every day I sat down to write, I would note the time I started, the time I stopped, how many words I wrote, and where I was writing on a spreadsheet — Rachel Aaron

The days when I broke 10k were the days when I was writing scenes I'd been dying to write since I planned the book. — Rachel Aaron

Why are you still complaining?" Miranda said. "It didn't help yesterday; it didn't help two weeks ago. What makes you think it'll help now? — Rachel Aaron

The point I'm trying to make is that by recording my progress every day, I had the data I needed to start optimizing my daily writing. — Rachel Aaron

Storytelling is a business of unique snowflakes. Every writer is different; every book is different; every reader is different. This is why it's so hard to give writing advice, because what works for me might be poison to someone else. But if I could make one absolute assertion, it would be this: If you are not enjoying your writing, you're doing it wrong. A book is not a battle, nor is it a conquest. A book is a story, and telling it should be an enjoyable exercise. So the next time you don't want to write, don't waste time beating yourself up. Instead, stop and ask yourself why. Why do you not want to do this fundamentally enjoyable thing? What's really going on? — Rachel Aaron

As such, the first question you should be asking yourself isn't "Is this a good book?" but "Is this really the story I want to spend my time on? — Rachel Aaron

But you're looking at this all wrong, Julius. Assassination attempts aren't a threat. They're a compliment. They're the final strike, the last desperate move when every other plot has failed." Ian winked at him. "When they try to kill you, that's when you know you're winning." Julius — Rachel Aaron

Well, he's not really my friend," Julius admitted. "I don't even know his real name, actually, but I was his healer in the game, and the bond between healer and tank runs deep. — Rachel Aaron

I though the Black Reach lived in China."
"That doesn't mean anything," Bob said with a shrug. "The Black Reach doesn't have to be in the same hemisphere to meddle in you affairs. He didn't get his name for having unusually long arms, you know. — Rachel Aaron

A book is not a battle, nor is it a conquest. A book is a story, and telling it should be an enjoyable exercise. — Rachel Aaron

Every day, while I was writing out my description of what I was going to write for the knowledge component of the triangle, I would play the scene through in my mind and try to get excited about it. I'd look for all the cool little hooks, the parts that interested me most, and focus on those since they were obviously what made the scene cool. If I couldn't find anything to get excited over, then I would change the scene, or get rid of it entirely. I decided then and there that, no matter how useful a scene might be for my plot, boring scenes had no place in my novels. — Rachel Aaron

Conrad took hold of both his shoulders and set Julius bodily against the wall and ordered, "Stay." "I'm not a dog," Julius muttered, earning himself another deadly glare. "Right," he amended, dropping his eyes. "Staying. — Rachel Aaron

Sometimes the price of doing the right thing is higher than we realize when we do it. — Rachel Aaron