when_the_rest_of_heaven_was_blue asked Jennifer A. Nielsen:

Hello! How do you come up with such great plots and characters? How do you keep track of them all?

Jennifer A. Nielsen Hi Taylor, first, thank you. There are three parts to your question.

1) Great plots. I ask questions all the time. When I get an idea, I ask questions about every major plot point, about the ending, about why certain events are happening. The more questions I ask, the better the plot becomes.

2) Great characters. Honestly, I don't feel like I create any characters; I simply listen for them the way I picture them in my head. Then I ask them questions and they tell me about themselves. That's how they get written into the story.

3) For really complex plots or for series, I create a "Bible," which is all the basic information for everything, i.e. character descriptions, character quirks or habits, distances on maps, etc.

Thanks for asking!

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