Rachel Aaron Quotes

#1. Specifically, I ask that my scenes do three things: Advance the story Reveal new information Pull the reader forward

Rachel Aaron

#2. 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

#3. 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

#4. Don't try to nice your way out of this. It's insulting.

Rachel Aaron

#5. 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

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

Rachel Aaron

#7. 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

#8. 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

#9. 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

#10. 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

#11. 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

#12. 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

#13. The longer I wrote, the faster I wrote, and, I believe, the better I wrote.

Rachel Aaron

#14. 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

#15. 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

#16. 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

#17. 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

#18. 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

#19. Sometimes the price of doing the right thing is higher than we realize when we do it.

Rachel Aaron

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

Rachel Aaron

#21. Don't tell me the Pigeon Whisperer dragged you into one of his stupid schemes.

Rachel Aaron

#22. 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

#23. 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

#24. 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

#25. 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

#26. 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

#27. 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

#28. 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

#29. 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

#30. 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

#31. Nothing good ever happened when you woke up in a room with a drain.

Rachel Aaron

#32. 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