This book jumps around in time, in characters, and in story. How did your head not get jumbled with this many character POVs? Did you focus on one at a time or did you bounce around?

Jennifer Egan Hi Taeler, thanks for the question. I worked very much on one at a time--in fact when I was working in one point of view, I would almost forget that the others existed. Only in the last phase of the process did I put all of it together and concentrate hard on the flow of the larger story the chapters were telling. The one way in which I needed to ground myself was in characters' birthdates and ages. But other than that, I really just let the process work organically. I cut about fifty percent of what I originally wrote, which speaks to the fact that there are a lot of "wrong" moves when I work in this way, but hopefully enough good ones to make a book. Thanks so much for reading, and all best, Jenny

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