Debbie Collard asked Christopher Rice:

Christopher - I read your novel THE VINES and is scared me to death - in a good way. It got me hooked, and I just finished BONE MUSIC, which I also loved. Keep writing amazing stories! My question is do you have a "process" for your writing (i.e., writing x number of hours per day, or doing a story outline and then chapters in order, or?)?

Christopher Rice Thank you so much, Debbie. I try for a semi-regular daily word count of 1,500 to 2,000 words per day, but I'm not perfect. And that's in the first draft stage. When I'm revising, I go much faster. I do a fair amount of outlining, but I find it's impossible to outline down to the finest detail. And an idea that seemed great in the outline stage sometimes won't work when I get to the scene and I have to be willing to adjust to the flow. I do write chapters in order. In fact, I don't think I've ever written scenes out of sequence on a first draft. That said, sometimes I'll end up moving a scene in revision because it's found a new home somewhere else on the book's timeline.

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