The early '20s were like the waist of an hourglass. Lots of things were hurtling toward it and squeezing through it and then hurtling out the other side. Sarah Waters More Quotes by Sarah Waters More Quotes From Sarah Waters And perhaps there is a limit to the grieving that the human heart can do. As when one adds salt to a tumbler of water, there comes a point where simply no more will be absorbed. Sarah Waters moving-on sad grief Cut like crazy. Less is more. I've often read manuscripts - including my own - where I've got to the beginning of, say, chapter two and have thought: “This is where the novel should actually start.” A huge amount of information about character and backstory can be conveyed through small detail. The emotional attachment you feel to a scene or a chapter will fade as you move on to other stories. Be business-like about it. Sarah Waters crazy character moving I knew Id always be a second-rate academic, and I thought, Well, Id rather be a second-rate novelist or even a third-rate one. Sarah Waters rate academic novelists Even ashes are a part of your freedom. Sarah Waters your-freedom ashes I knew that I couldn't lie beside her, without wanting to touch her. I couldn't have felt her breath come upon my mouth, without wanting to kiss her. And I couldn't have kissed her, without wanting to save her. Sarah Waters kissing mouths lying Being in love, you know... it's not like having a canary, in a cage. When you lose one sweetheart, you can't just go out and get another to replace her. Sarah Waters cages being-in-love love-you Why is it we can never love the people we ought to? Sarah Waters ought people I do love the past but wouldnt want to live in it. Sarah Waters want past Respect your characters, even the minor ones. In art, as in life, everyone is the hero of their own particular story; it is worth thinking about what your minor characters' stories are, even though they may intersect only slightly with your protagonist's. Sarah Waters hero character art Why do gentlemen's voices carry so clearly, when women's are so easily stifled? Sarah Waters gentleman voice I never expected my books to do even as well as they have. I still feel grateful for it, every single day. Sarah Waters wells grateful book I barely knew I had skin before I met you. Sarah Waters before-i-met-you skins love It's a curious, wanting thing. Sarah Waters curious lust I've given up reading the papers. Since the world's so obviously bent on killing itself, I decided months ago to sit back and let it. Sarah Waters months reading world How will a person know, Selina, when the soul that has the affinity with hers is near it?" She answered, "She will know. Does she look for air, before she breathes it? This love will be guided to her; and when it comes, she will know. And she will do anything to keep that love about her, then. Because to lose it will be like a death to her. Sarah Waters soul air doe I'll burn myself, or I'll cut myself. For a burn or a cut might be shown, might be nursed, might scar or heal, would be a miserable kind of emblem; would anyway be there, on the surface of her body, rather than corroding it from within. Now the thought came to her again, that she might scar herself in some way. It came, like the solution to a problem: I won't be doing it like some hysterical girl. I won't be hoping she'll come catch me at it. It won't be like lying on the sitting-room floor. I'll be doing it for myself, as a secret. Sarah Waters cutting girl lying For was that all, she thought bleakly, that love ever was? Something that saved one from loneliness? A sort of insurance policy against not counting? Sarah Waters counting loneliness love With every step I took away from her, the movement at my heart and between my legs grew more defined: I felt like a ventriloquist, locking his protesting dolls in to a trunk. Sarah Waters dolls movement heart Your twisting is done--you have the last thread of my heart. I wonder: when the thread grows slack, will you feel it? Sarah Waters done heart love I felt that thread that had come between us, tugging, tugging at my heart - so hard, it hurt me. A hundred times I almost rose, almost went in to her; a hundred times I thought, Go to her! Why are you waiting? Go back to her side! But every time, I thought of what would happen if I did. I knew that I couldn't lie beside her, without wanting to touch her. I couldn't have felt her breath upon my mouth, without wanting to kiss her. And I couldn't have kissed her, without wanting to save her. Sarah Waters hurt heart lying
