What I don't want Laurel's story to be

"It don't know if it's better to give than to receive, it's certainly easier."

"Why can a dream be great and an ambition not? Ambition is the petrol, Laurel, and it is very expensive." 

I am enjoying Peter Hoeg's 'The Quiet Girl' at the moment, it's another one with the Door in. And she is a girl, around nine or so, so that isn't an irritating use of the word. But it did make me realise how fed up I am of protagonists with special powers - this one can hear the heartbeat of the universe sort of thing.

• I don't want special power for Laurel, just an ability to use her ordinary ones.
• Sometimes a power is not having something. Laurel's lack of experience might seem a weakness but turns out a huge strength

And the use of flashback in TQG has become predictable and distracting - he keeps 'remembering' previous meetings with the girl, with his ex, with the Blue Nun but not remembering, reliving and I think he has enough on just getting on with staying alive and finding TQG. It makes me think of the way that Robichoux (however it's spelt) always had a dream somewhere - but at least it was generally only one, and as I read the series I learnt to skip it.

Is this true? - 'if an event is important enough to be in the book, it's impact should show in the character's current actions and it should be dramatic enough not to need explaining. like maybe a wound that someone would see and ask about and be told, oh it's just where I got shot, and later the smell of verbena would be commented on and she wouldn't like it,

why not

it reminds me of when soandso shot me

OR PERHAPS BETTER - if the smell of verbena hadn't reminded her of when soandso shot her she would not have been so alert. Tom had always called it paranoid. but whichever, she would not have realised that whoever was lying.

And then I would have to go on and say something about Tom later on maybe if he hadn't already been introduced. But I think that is more how life happens, little bursts, chunks of what is going on inside your head, unless, like me you live inside your head most of the time, that is. I don't want my characters to be like that, except when I decide they are. 

• I don't want flashback scenes to explain the current predicament/ protagonist's actions.