1.
Number one rule for fiction: Coincidence can be used to worsen a characters predicament, but never to solve his problems.
Vivian Vande Velde
2.
She sighed. Loudly. "Physical appearance is not what is important." Yeah right. Tell that to any girl who hasn't bothered to put on a presentable shirt or fix her hair because she's only running into the grocery store to get a quart of milk for her grandmother, and who does she see tending the 7-ITEMS-OR-LESS cash register but the guy of her dreams, except she can't even say hi—much less try to develop a meaningful relationship—since she looks like the poster child for the terminally geeky.
Vivian Vande Velde
3.
Then, early, early, early in the morning-just as in countless Disney films-I heard a rooster crow. But guess what? They don't do it just once.
Vivian Vande Velde
4.
Mothers are legendary for being able to read the thoughts of their children at just the right moment.
Vivian Vande Velde
5.
If you don't like vampire games, don't play
Vivian Vande Velde
6.
There, close enough to spit on--if I'd been a barbarian and inclined to spit--was the dragon.
Vivian Vande Velde
7.
People always talk about good, fresh country air, but I kept getting wiffs of something that was neither good nor fresh but definitely country.
Vivian Vande Velde
8.
if Saint Bruce doesn't like your poem, he chops your head off.
Vivian Vande Velde
9.
Those Grimm brothers," she said with a sigh, "they'll never amount to anything." And she was right because all they ever became was writers.
Vivian Vande Velde
10.
The wolf sniffed beneath the door to be sure this was a human cottage. The scent was undeniable. No pigs, except in bacon form. The wolf thought bacon form was a very sensible way for pigs to behave.
Vivian Vande Velde
11.
They'd poisoned me, dammit. Probably to trade my dead body to the barbarians for Wulfgar's safe return. Or maybe just for the fun of it.
Vivian Vande Velde
12.
Giannine--What are they going to do: smack me on the head with a pamplet?
Vivian Vande Velde
13.
A [reformed] vampire ... mostly tries to make reparation for his previous evil by doing good deeds-most commonly, apparently, going into the crime solving business.
Vivian Vande Velde