Barb
Barb asked Catherine Ryan Hyde:

I am trying to think of a question....I can not stop reading your books. You are such a good storyteller, I just woke up and opened my kindle and had to start reading before I had my coffee..haha. I am reading the Language of Hoofbeats right now. So my question will be, how do you think of the best topics to write about????

Catherine Ryan Hyde Before coffee. Now that's a dedicated reader!

It's a good question, but it will be a hard one to answer. Because I don't really do it so much with my thinking brain. I don't "think up" a topic. Instead I tend to see an image of a character in a situation. For example, with WORTHY it was an image of a person driving up, stopping their car, putting a dog out, and driving off without him. And someone else observing. Then I gradually daydream details until it fleshes out into a story.

To whatever extent my books have a theme, I tend to see it later, looking back. I don't think of a theme and then write to it. It just emerges as I go.

I wish I could give a clearer answer, but imagination is a tricky phenomenon to track.

I'm so glad to hear that you are enjoying the books.

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