Jeffrey M Anderson

Yes. I must have been in about the fifth grade. It was about two men in a boat, lost at sea. One sees a red star and takes this to be a sign on what direction they should take. The other doesn't see it. They argue. I can't remember the middle part. I remember the ending though. The red star was the right answer.

I am what is known, somewhat pejoratively, as a "pantser", contracted I think from "seat of your pants". That means I don't sit down pre-novel and outline or otherwise architect the story. For me one of the sheer joys of writing is getting in a zone and improvising. There is a part of you that sits back and watches the show even as it is created. Nowhere is this process more spectacular than when a new character walks on the stage from an unexpected direction. In my first novel, Little God Blues, this happened several times but the best example is Sula Lamzaki, the protagonist's love interest. Before she appeared I didn't know there would be a love interest. She came out of the ether, blossomed up, and wound up muscling her way into the story in a big way. . . . .