unrequited

Authors should love their creatures
inordinately. They have yet more
cause to do so than mere mortals do
each other. Yet they must not spare them
their trials and failures by wan, unsatisfying
miracle, every page required. These seeming
beings drive the plot by their cunning and driven
wish, and are in turn driven by it where things must
lead. We must not believe

our creatures would wish
for less than this, and we

must be at least
so courageous as they.