I spend a lot of time before I start the actual writing dreaming up my characters and plot. I read everything I can get my hands on around the subject so that the world of my story begins to take shape. I like to imagine that the story is already out there, that it happened to real people, and it’s my job to uncover it rather than to make it up. I scribble ideas that may come to nothing, I daydream about my characters, I fill my head with the world, atmosphere, aesthetic, music, smells, voices of the story I want to lose myself inside, and then, suddenly, all the disparate jigsaw pieces start to link up. My advice would be to allow your idea the time to gestate—if it feels real to you, it will feel real to your reader, too.

Last updated on December 21, 2009 by Kate Morton