How to make me fall in love with your book in 5 easy steps

Step 1: Begin with a quote that makes me cheer on the girl before I’ve even met her.

“It is written in the Chronicles of Sorrowing that one day there will come a child who will unseat a king.
The prophecy states that this child will be a girl.
Because of this, the prophecy has long been ignored.”

Step 2: Make your main character someone who loves to read, who is imaginative and brave and resilient and adorable.

“There are twenty-six letters in all,” she said. “You will learn each of them, and once you know them, you can mix them as you will, and then use them to form the words of the world and the things of the world. You can write of everything - what is and what was and what might yet be.”

Step 3: Introduce me to characters who will live in my heart long after I finish reading. People like…

* A monk who sees beauty everywhere and whose words are true
* A boy with a brilliant memory who talks to bees
* A man who remembers how wonderful it is to laugh.

Step 4: Impart wisdom and, in doing so, make me highlight an absurd amount of sentences.

“He said, “The world is not always a kind place.”
“No,” she agreed.
“But there are sweet things to be had,” he said.”

“Nothing is more terrifying to evil than joy.”

“She felt as though the darkness were trying to swallow her up.
She must not allow that to happen. She must stay herself.”

“To be brave is to not turn away.
To be brave is to go forward.
To be brave is to love.”

“Seemingly, the heart could hold an untold amount of things - letters and people and goats and bees.
Seemingly, there was no limit to what it could contain.”

“We shall all, in the end,
be led to where we belong.
We shall all, in the end,
find our way home.”

Step 5: Include gorgeous illustrations.

Bonus points if there’s a goat called Answelica who has attitude and a very hard head.

“I do believe the best and wisest thing we can do is to follow the goat.”