KAMI GARCIA

I was a fine arts major in college, and a painter for many years. And I found that, like writing, art is very similar.

I start with a beat sheet, which is more of an abbreviated outline. It hits all the major plot points. From there, I move to note cards. But the most important part of my process is my inspiration board.

At the beginning of a new project, often before I do any actual writing, I collect photos, quotes, song lyrics, and even objects that relate to the characters or the world I'm creating.

As much as I love to dive into the action early, I think the hero's journey is important - the idea that the reader needs to experience the protagonist's everyday life before you turn that world upside down.

The beginning of a book is always the hardest part for me. I'm a Chapter 3 kind of writer, which means I naturally start at Chapter 3.

bent like the branches of a tree broken like the pieces of my heart cracked like the seventeenth moon shattered like the glass in the window the day we met

Maybe Ridley was like chicken pox; you could only catch it once.

No, I'm too busy trying to deflect your Power of Stupidity. But I don't think I'm strong enough.

no light no dark no you no me know light know dark know you know me

Because saving the people you love isn't stupid. It isn't even a choice

Sixteen moons, Sixteen years Sixteen of your deepest fears Sixteen times you dreamed my tears Falling, Falling through the years

The mortal world is in a state of Beautiful Chaos and destruction, which will ultimately lead to an exquisite end.

There are lots of things we choose not to see. Doesn't mean they aren't there, even if we wish they weren't.

I smiled at her, but she was already lost in thought, looking around the library as if it held all the answers to all our problems.

My life had taken a stranger turn than I could've ever imagined. What was I doing on this path? Where was I headed really? Who was I to take on a battle between powers I didn't understand— armed with a runaway cat, a uniquely bad drummer, a pair of garden shears, and an Ovaltine-drinking teen Galileo? To save a girl who didn't want to be saved?

Funny thing is, until I met you all I wanted to do was to get as far away from here as I could. Kind of ironic, isn't it? Can't get much farther away than where I"m going, and now I'd give anything to stay.

moments bleed together, no span to time

You couldn't unburn the books. You could only buy new ones.

You watch yourself. One day you're going to pick a hole in the sky and the universe is gonna fall right through. Then we'll all be in a fix

Summer School: Never stop learnin' if you want to stop earnin'. I'm reasonably sure there G's in learning and earning.

Any book is a Good Book, and wherever they keep the Good Book safe is also the House a the Lord.

I needed to touch her, like I needed to breathe.

I sat up in bed. My T-shirt was soaking wet. My pillow was wet. My hair was wet. And my room was sticky and humid.

Even when I didn't know anything else about where I was or what I was supposed to be doing. You were my Wayward, even then. Everything always brought me back to you. Everything.

I'll drive like my grandma. I'll drive like your grandma." "You wouldn't say that if you knew my gramma.