What was I thinking? Of all the assistants I could have wound up with, why did I have to choose the one with the scary mother and troublemaking in his bloodlines? I am doomed.

The first rule of world-building is available physics, which basically means that if you want it to feel real, it has to follow the same rules as this world, from gravity to how human behaviour works. If you have a fantasy element that doesnt obey the laws of physics, make sure that it has a fantasy explanation.

There's always a bit of truth in each rumour, the trouble is finding out which bit. - Tayend

Great. She shook her head. Not only am I having conversations with myself, but now I'm refusing to talk to me. This has got to be the first sign of madness.

Mortals did not need gods to order them to kill eachother. They were quite capable of finding reasons to do so themselves.

It is said, in Imardin, that the wind has a soul, and that it wails through the narrow streets because it is grieved by what it finds there.

Cery: So, Hem, tell me why I shouldn't see how many holes I need to make before you start leaking money?

He had given her too much. He had given her everything.

Happy endings are a luxury of fiction

I have always been fascinated by the supernatural elements in stories, whether fairy tales, myths, film or literature.

How am I going to make friends with these people if all I can think of is how easy it would be to rob them?

The Magicians Apprentice was about someone from the low end of society manifesting magical power and how that completely messes up the balance of the whole system.

It was impossible to imagine the aloof, dignified, powerful High Lord living as, of all things, a slave.

Unquestioning obedience is for slaves, the uneducated and the pathetic.

Though I can’t help feeling a sudden death cheats you of something. Death is an experience of life. You only get one death. I would like to be aware it was happening, even if that did mean enduring pain and fear.

I wound up studying art and design, got a job at Lonely Planet Publications as a designer, cartographer and illustrator.