Lynne asked Susan Cain:

'Quiet' is a masterpiece in so many ways, but what I really love is that your arguments are so rooted in research. I wondered whether your research gave birth to the book or whether the book's theme gave rise to the research, or what the relationship between the two was?

Susan Cain Such an interesting question! It was definitely the latter — the book’s theme gave rise to the research. I was pretty sure that my thesis was correct, based on having lived in the world for 37 years at the time I started writing the book. But since I was making such a counter-cultural argument, I wanted every single assertion I made to be backed up by research. I spent years doing that research, and loved every minute of it.

Still, the first draft I turned in to my editor didn’t actually include most of that research — I was afraid that most people aren’t as wonky as I am, and was afraid to bore them. I thought I’d put a list of resources at the end of the book, and leave it at that. But my editor, Rachel Klayman, told me the book should be much more substantive, and sent me back to the drawing board to rewrite it from scratch. She told me to take all the time I needed for the re-draft. It took two years. It’s very unusual for publishing houses to be so generous with time, and I’ll always be grateful to her.

flag