Where Does a Writer Start?

Where does a writer start? 
This writer starts with two things: 
The question WHY? Eventually, upon analysis, I���ve learned that my initial
why.  My curiosity. My questioning
myself and the human condition ��� leads to what English teachers call
���theme.���    
How, in the 21st century, in Long Island, New York, can a group of suburban teens���turn on people who lived among them? Strangers, but not strange. Two brothers who weren���t bothering anyone���just because they were not like them? And why did no one������parents, teachers, coaches, notice anything? Why did none of their wide circle of friends say: this is wrong?  What is the nature of hate and prejudice in the 21
century? These are the questions my character struggle with in my 2011 young adult novel, LIE.
 
With my 2014 young adult novel��� Before My Eyes ��� three intertwined stories ��� but also inspired by the why. Why did no
one see what was going inside with these three fragile teens���especially one
who is going through a psychic break���and who has so easily bought a gun?    
The second thing I start with is:A character.
A voice in my head. A sense that something is
going to happen to this person���I���m not sure what, but I���m going on a
journey with him or her. It may end well; it may not. It may end unsettled���in a
question because  my characters are complicated.
Ultimately, these novels end.
Yet life remains complicated, so I am starting a new novel; one I am aiming for adults, since our lives, these days, are more complicated than ever. STAY TUNED.