Gabby
asked
Stacy Schiff:
What is your process in beginning research for your books? Do you first outline the book, or do you let the research take you to the story?
Stacy Schiff
It's crucial, I think, to follow the material. If you don't allow it to shape the book, you wind up shaping --possibly mangling -- the material. "Strong curiosity, weak affiliations," E.B. White counseled. That said, I wish I knew how to outline. Every once in a while I attempt to outline the next few stops in a chapter. Inevitably I start out in the right direction to wind up somewhere entirely different.
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