Which way to go?

Photo: Andrea Kalteis

What comes first, the book or the pitch? Put another way, do you develop the larger idea of a book to test out with your agent/publisher, before writing the book? Or do you write the book and then look for the pitch in it? Or?

by Dietrich

I like to start with the easy part, writing the novel. It grows from an idea to a first draft, to a second draft, then to a third. Timelines and facts get checked, then the whole thing gets polished until it’s ready to send out.

Then I write t...