Sarah Zettel Quotes & Sayings

Fantasy is, of course, booming, and I think it's beginning to stretch its range as well. — Sarah Zettel

I reached for Jack's hand. It was cold. But then, so was mine. — Sarah Zettel

I'm going to go out on a limb here. I've thought a lot about this one, as a feminist, and as an author. How should traditional roles be portrayed? In fantasy literature there is a school of thought that holds that women must be treated precisely like men. Only the traditional male sphere of power and means of wielding power count. If a woman is shown in a traditionally female role, then she must be being shown as inferior.
After a lot of thought, and some real-life stabs at those traditional roles, I've come to firmly disagree with this idea. For an author to show that only traditional male power and place matter is to discount and belittle the hard and complex lives of our peers and our ancestresses. — Sarah Zettel

I'm told my SF is of the hard variety and my Fantasy is romantic but hopefully all the characters are strong and the plots are lively. — Sarah Zettel

As far as the writing goes, I started telling stories as soon as I could talk, and started writing them down as soon as I could string words together. — Sarah Zettel

My joking answer to this question is that I leave a bowl of milk out on the back porch every night for the Idea Fairy. In the morning, the milk is gone and there's a brand-new shiny idea by the bowl. — Sarah Zettel

I reject the notion that we must tell girls that the only way to be valid human beings is to turn themselves into boys. — Sarah Zettel

I graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in Communications and left formal education behind. — Sarah Zettel

When I'm not at the keyboard, I'm generally reading, practicing tai chi or middle eastern dance, or cooking. — Sarah Zettel

I think people enjoy a series. When you like a story, many readers want more of the same, which is dandy, if the author and the characters have more to say. — Sarah Zettel

If I get blocked, it is generally because I don't know enough about some aspect of the story or the characters. The answer for this is generally more research, or making more background notes, so the place and person can be more fully realized inside my own mind. — Sarah Zettel

I did not feel I could create a more beautiful or interesting Mars than Kim Stanley Robinson or Greg Bear had, so I turned my attention elsewhere. — Sarah Zettel

When I was in college, I spent a summer working in London. I'd enjoyed tea before that, but then I got actual, really good tea there and never looked back. — Sarah Zettel

I feel SF is going through an experimental phase right now. — Sarah Zettel

The man has more masks than a whole troupe of Italian players. — Sarah Zettel

Octavia Butler, of course, is brilliant and disturbing. — Sarah Zettel

Then, I realized that there is an indigenous presence in the Solar System. It's us. So, then, I got to wondering what would happen if a more technologically advanced society moved next door to us, the way we moved next door to the American Indians. — Sarah Zettel

There was a lot under those words. I'd go digging for it later. — Sarah Zettel

So, one of the things I was doing with the aliens in The Quiet Invasion was creating that advanced society which had ideas about morality and proper use of natural resources that were radically different from ours, as the Europeans were from the American Indians. — Sarah Zettel

Sevarin had been dismissive about the chance of finding out anything useful from the cops, but when it came to getting information, I had an edge he didn't.
Sevarin did not make a killer lasagne. — Sarah Zettel

Mama took me in her arms and held me tight. Her embrace was hot and she smelled like sweat, dust, and grease, but I wanted her. I wanted to crawl inside her mind to find that place that let her smile and sing through the worst dust storms. If I had to be crazy, I wanted my mama's kind of crazy, because she was never afraid. — Sarah Zettel

This was Jonan's boat. She had helped Nan Seller dose his entire crew against the annual diarrhea outbreak known as the winter runs — Sarah Zettel

Bullets sound like hornets when they pass too close to your head. After a while, the world closes down. You can't hear much, you can't see much, just the way ahead, the next slat, the next open gate. All you know is running; the only place that's real is away. — Sarah Zettel

I describe my plots as follows; A character is walking down the street when all of a sudden a piano falls on them. They spend the rest of the story digging out from under that piano. How they dig, how long and how well, this all depends entirely on the character. — Sarah Zettel

We're not in Fairyland! We're in Kansas! — Sarah Zettel

I thought maybe I could just get away from everything. But you can't get away from a thing that's your own fault. — Sarah Zettel

I have to do more close research and fact checking for the science fiction. This is not however to say that writing good fantasy does not involve doing good research. — Sarah Zettel

Becoming a mother cannot help but change things. An author's life is reflected in their writing, whether they want it to be or not, and parenthood is one of the biggest life changes there is. — Sarah Zettel

I'd been right about Jack Holland. He had the kind of face that could make you believe. — Sarah Zettel

A gun is a terrible thing. It's a dark hole pointed at you, and that hole swallows up everything else in the world, your friends, your nerve, until there's nothing but you and what's waiting in that little round space of dark. — Sarah Zettel

First and foremost, The Quiet Invasion is a first contact story. What would we do if we actually found evidence of alien life out there? It's also about politics. — Sarah Zettel

They were beautiful beyond words, beautiful beyond understanding. So beautiful, I wanted to tear out my heart and hand it over, because after seeing them, I surely wouldn't have any more use for it. — Sarah Zettel

I think the diversity of authors and readers is expanding, which is wonderful, because it means the type of story being told is also expanding. — Sarah Zettel

I wasn't used to looking ahead. Not like Jack. Maybe that was why he had that ready grin. I could see through the dust, but he could see through time, and he didn't even need magic to do it. — Sarah Zettel

The makers, the beautiful, the ones cast out because their light was too brilliant for the world beyond. The ones who wish true and deep with their whole hearts for more than they have. They come here, and we love them. — Sarah Zettel

Actually, after while, finding the ideas is the easy part. Sorting them through and turning them into stories, now, that's the hard work. — Sarah Zettel

I wish I knew who I am," I whispered to the stars in Baya's eyes.
Slowly, Baya shook his head. "Oh, Dust Girl, that's the hardest wish of all. Not even Baya can give you that one. That one you earn. — Sarah Zettel

I have a better internal and intuitive understanding of folklore and myth than science and technology, so in that way fantasy is easier. — Sarah Zettel

I'd never have gotten this far without you, I said.
Jack tipped his cap to me. My heart squirmed around to find a new position under my ribs. I closed the door fast before I could say something really stupid. — Sarah Zettel

I did not want to write a story about the invasion of Earth, so I had to create a race capable of living nearby, which meant to either on the Moon, on Mars, or on Venus. I picked Venus. — Sarah Zettel

I suppose if I was to have to pick a few, Ursula LeGuin would have to top the list. It was while reading her work that I decided I wanted to be an author. — Sarah Zettel

I myself was born in Sacramento, California in 1966. — Sarah Zettel

Sometimes it's not good for people to find out who you really are. — Sarah Zettel

All of this got me thinking about the history of the westward expansion, and got me to wondering how the exploration of the Solar System would be changed if there were an indigenous presence out there. — Sarah Zettel

What's it like where they live?"
"It's everything you want it to be. — Sarah Zettel

Fortunately, many people also enjoy a stand-alone as a sample of something new, like trying the special at a favourite restaurant one night instead of going for the usual. — Sarah Zettel

I'm mostly a novelist these days, but I have written short stories in Fantasy, Science Fiction and horror. — Sarah Zettel

Now that you know the wishing ways, you'll feel the wishes around you. They'll make you itchy, 'cause you know you can do something about them, but that ain't always the best idea. — Sarah Zettel

The Lord of the Rings movie set an entirely new standard for fantasy in the movies. — Sarah Zettel

The true lady treats the whole world as her dance floor, — Sarah Zettel

Now, of course, the great thing about the solar system as a frontier is that there are no Indians, so you can have all the glory of the myth of the American westward expansion without any of the guilt. — Sarah Zettel

Now, Venus is an extremely hostile environment, and as such presents a lot of challenges for a science fiction author who wants to create life there. However, as I began to research it more thoroughly, I found myself intrigued by the possibilities the world offers. — Sarah Zettel