Tori Peacock asked Romina Russell:

This is more a question of your writing style - Do you go in with a plan? Do you know how you want things to turn out or do you write one line at a time? It's always fascinated me how my favorite books came about.

Romina Russell Hi Tori! I definitely outline my books before I begin writing them. I tend to follow this general formula: #1: Build the Setting-->#2: Birth Characters from that specific world's soil-->#3: Let the Plot unfold from Characters' choices.

In the case of ZODIAC, the first thing I did was create a galactic "bible" of sorts that outlined every detail about all 12 (ahem, 13?) Houses; info like the planets' composition, the physical and personality traits of each population, every House's government, culture, religion, technology, transportation, entertainment, food, and so on. I like to begin my books with Setting based on something Alan Watts once said--we're not born into this world; we're born from it. In other words, Earth must exist before we can be born.

After I have my world(s) figured out, I'll flesh out my characters, with an eye toward trying to ensure they're true representations of their unique upbringings (and not my own). Once I feel like I fully know my cast, I begin outlining the story, and I try to let the dance between the protagonist and the antagonist chart the trajectory of the plot. Each character's greatest strength and weakness will determine their decisions and reactions, and that choreography becomes the backbone of my novel.

Hope that made sense! ;) xoxoxo Romina of House Virgo

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