Author Interview

What inspires you to write?
I always have stories going in my head. It was years before I discovered that wasn't true for everyone.
Sometimes the spark for a particular story will be a "weird news" item on the back page of a newspaper. Sometimes it's a historical event that I hadn't heard about before. Sometimes it's a new scientific development that makes me wonder about the consequences. I'm always looking for something new,for a story that can surprise me even though I'm the one writing it.
Tell us about your writing process.
The story starts with a lot of noodling around in my journals, scribbling down ideas, snatches of dialogue, scenes and situations. There will be a lot of pathways that lead nowhere. But eventually the story starts to fit together, I can see which pieces belong there, and I start typing a draft on my computer. If I get stuck, I stop and make a list of 20 things that could happen – or better yet, 20 things that couldn't possibly happen, and one of them will lead me to an idea that works.

​Read the rest at Interviews with Writers.