When I start out to write, I always have an idea where I want to go and more often than not have a storyboard of index cards on the clothesline in my office. But during the process, I have serious conversations with my characters who often correct me when I get off track or suggest new possibilities for my stories. I think it’s a joint effort; no character hijacks the story, and I don’t impose my will on reluctant characters.

Writing my newest novel, The Girl from the Lighthouse was an interesting process. After writing a finished draft as a third person story, upon review I decided, with my editor, that it wasn’t working; I needed to get the reader closer to my characters. So I rewrote the whole manuscript in the first person present tense. Clearly, that put me in my character’s voice, and we worked very closely together.