You knew it was coming Jennifer, more of those pesky questions about process.

I noticed that Certain Girls has a lot of short chapters (with alternating points of view) but the development doesn't feel choppy.

Did you write the book with the alternating format or pull the separate threads apart in the revision process?

Also, do you outline? Plan for specific turning points or work more from an organic process (fishing at Stephen King et al's lake of words).

Many thanks for sharing your time and expertise.

I did write the book in alternating chapters. I did a first draft that way, then I pulled out all the Joy stuff and read it – and revised it – as its own little mini-book. Then I put it all back together.

I generally don’t work from a specific outline, but I always have some idea of how the book’s going to end before I start it (and, like I said before, in this case, I knew pretty much exactly how it was going to end.)

Fascinating. The extra work of pulling Joy's content together and checking it no doubt helped with the unity and consistency of her voice.

As a side note, have you ever been surprised by turns a particular work takes? For example, have the endings that you envisioned for your novels ever developed a different than anticipated outcome?