the place where our everyday lives can feel touched by magic. they therefore seemed like the natural way to introduce magic into yan's life. and of course it was love, the most magical of emotions, that would drive him. the characters and the story naturally flowed from that, from thinking about what sort of person would be willing to share their emotions with strangers, and what sort of people would go looking for that.
most of us have had jobs like yan's at some point in our lives--the ones where the only excitement is the excitement we make, where people demand much of us for little in return, where even a 