At the core, I try to write characters who are real people with real insecurities, fears, hopes, and dreams, which is why hopefully readers can identify with them.
Like so many aspiring writers who still have boxes of things they've written in their parents' houses, I filled notebooks with half-finished poems and stories and first paragraphs of novels that never got written.
It was easy to believe, between lessons on Shakespeare and Dickens and Austen, that all of the great stories had already been written by dead Europeans. But every time I saw 'The Outsiders', I knew better. It was the first time I'd realized that real people write books.
Teenage girls read in packs. It's true today, and it was true when I was a teen growing up in a small town in northeast Oklahoma.
Like many authors, I caught the writing bug during my teenage years. I don't remember the exact day or year, but I remember that reading S.E. Hinton's 'The Outsiders' sparked my interest in writing.
And, of course, there are the perfect day, perfect moment, perfect life dreams that come sometimes and make a person hit the snooze button for hours, trying to go back to sleep and make the perfect moments last.
Because sometimes not liking someone is easier.
Denying the undeniable just makes you sound like a fool as well as a liar.
A Gallagher Girl's real grades don’t come in pass or fail—they're measured in life or death.
Did you hear that? I'm special.
The older I got, the smarter my teachers became.
Don't let two men fall in love with you, girls. It's not the sort of thing that ends well." -Uncle Charles
It was epic. It was awkward. It was epically awkward.
I don’t understand hate. I’ve seen its power. I’ve known its wrath. I’ve even felt it coursing through my veins, pushing me on. But I don’t know where it comes from or why it lasts, how it can take hold in some people and grow.
She pulled away and looked at him. 'I kissed you and you left.' When Kat heard the pounding, she thought it was the beating of her heart. It was too loud, she thought. Hale was going to hear it; he was going to see it; and he was going to know how much power he had to hurt her.
That's cool." Hale nodded, unfazed. "But just so you know, that"---he pointed to the piece of metal peeking out from behind the stage---"is a Hurst 5,000 PSI hydraulic spreader-cutter, more commonly know as the Jaws of Life." "So?" "So I'm not a normal boy.
It’s the people you hold closest who have the most power to make you bleed.
Number of empty Ben & Jerry's containers: 3 - two mint chocolate cookie, one plain vanilla. (Who buys plain vanilla ice cream from Ben & Jerry's, anyway? Is there a greater waste?)
I suppose a lot of teenage girls feel invisible sometimes, like they just disappear. Well, that's me—Cammie the Chameleon. But I'm luckier than most because, at my school, that's considered cool. I go to a school for spies.
For all the days of our lives," we finished and I felt a little like a character in one of my grandma's soap operas.
There are some secrets we keep because we can't bear to let them out and some because it's better to keep them in.
The Bagshaw's blew up an armored truck one,' Gabrielle offered.
You know, it's okay to admit a little weakness now and then, Cammie. It won't kill you. In fact, I hear it makes you stronger.
Ooh, the silent treatment.
And yet, she knew she could be.
...nothing ever happens quickly (except when it does). Nothing is ever, ever easy (except when it is). And, most of all, nothing ever goes perfectly according to plan (except in the movies).
Even the best thief in the world can't steal time.
Because even though the truth can set you free, that doesn't mean it won't be painful.
She'd absolutely adored the library_an entire building where anyone could take things they didn't own and feel no remorse about it.
The Subject has really blue eyes that twinkle when he looks at someone like she's maybe a little bit insane.
Every decent con man knows that the simplest truth is more powerful than even the most elaborate lie.
Sometime years before, I had dragged an old bean bag chair to that place. I watched Zach sink onto it, and then he pulled me down to lean against him. I felt his arms go around me, holding me tight. I was safe. I was warm. I was home.
There's a power that comes with silence. I had grown to fear the unsaid thing. So it felt like a release to say it-to admit that the risk wasn't just inside our walls-it was inside my skin. I was willing to claw, scratch, and bleed until I'd found it.
Sometimes you forgive people simply becuase you still want them in your life.
You still don't get it, do you, Margaret?' Kat smiled almost sadly. 'We never had to steal the Antony. All we had to do was get it next to the Cleopatra and switch the signs.
Sometimes people run… to see if you'll come after them
Sometimes it takes an outsider, someone with fresh eyes to see the truth.
Do you want to hold it?' she asked, dangling the padded envelope in front of Hale with two fingers. 'No.' 'Do you want to touch it and kiss it and wear it around your neck?' 'Don't be silly,' he told her. 'Everyone knows green isn't my color.
Hale looked at Macey, who added, "Seven minutes since shots fired." "Kat what's the emergency response tie in Midtown Manhattan?" "Not long enough if they want a clean exit," she told him. Macey hadn't heard Kat's words, but she looked at Hale like she'd read his mind.
But then the girl moved, and smiled, and pulled her hand from the grate- a gorgeous green stone clutched tightly in her grasp. It was covered with dust and cobwebs, but it was uncracked and unharmed. And, of course, completely fake.
Macey was just starting to argue when Abby asked, "What can you tell me about the gunmen?" "They're amateurs," Hale said at the exact same time Macey told her teacher, "They're pros.
You look disappointed to see me, Zach," Macey teased. "Don't you like my jacket?
Step 4: Cough and gag. Step 5: Repeat Step 4 until it feels like maybe your lungs aren't inside your body anymore. Step 6: Remember that a really cute boy is beside you, so try to cough in a far more attractive manner.
Your memory is your first and best weapon, ladies. Learn to use it.
It is an occupational hazard that anyone who has spent her life learning how to lie eventually becomes bad at telling the truth.
Sometimes the biggest lies we tell are to ourselves.
Zach walked away, but I stood there for a long time, wondering if I should go to my mother; if I should go to my friends; but instead I slipped into the corridors I hadn't used in months, pushed my way through cobwebs and darkness, trying to walk away from the tears that burned hot down my cheeks, because maybe I didn't want to admit weakness; maybe I wanted to wallow in my solitude and grief. Or maybe crying is like everything else we do—it's best if you don't get caught.
Trust. We stake our lives on it, but it's a subject that not even the Gallagher Academy can teach. When do you let your guard down? Who do you let in? And I knew at that moment, as I sat beside my mother, bathing in the warm spring light, that those were the questions a good spy never stops asking
Unusual financial activity: none, unless you count the fact that someone in the family is way too into Civil War biographies. (Can this be a possible indication of Confederate insurgents still living and working in Virginia? Must research further.)
Pretend and it will be true.
Seriously", Macey snapped. "go. Kiss. A baby" "can you believe her?" Preston asked, coking his head towards macey." everytime she sees me, all she does is call me baby and talk about kissing." Macey looked like she wanted to kill him. But I kind of wanted to laugh.
Well, see, there's this cave in Switzerland I really need to find.' She slipped on her sunglasses; was already in the middle of the street when she turned and looked back at Hale and Gabrielle. 'You coming?
...maybe it's only fitting that relationship that started with a lie would end with one.
What kind of plan B?" Hale asked. He was almost holding his breath when a voice answered, "My kind." Macey tried to read the look on his face then, but it was gone in a flash. It had been a simple moment of peace and joy and pure happiness. That voice made Hale happy. It kept him calm. It was his backup and his conscience. Macey couldn't help herself, she envied him.
Acting like you don’t care is a whole lot easier when you don’t care
Not knowing you can't do something, is sometimes all it takes to do it.
I never knew there were this many stars." "I can't see them," he told me. "I just see you." "That's one of your cheesier lines," I told him. "It's the altitude," he told me. "I don't have enough oxygen in my brain." "I see.
Learn her skills, honor her sword, and keep her secrets.
Eventually, we all end up alone.
That's why we're going to disrupt the lunch," she (Kat) said. "You know," Angus said, "I've got a little C-four that I've been saving for a rainy--" "We're not blowing up my company, Angus," Hale said. "Righto. Carry on, Kitty.