Comments from an Interview with Diane Setterfield

I just finished reading The Thirteenth Tale, which I enjoyed immensely. Every chapter was a cliff-hanger, and the book did not peter out near the conclusion. At the very end of the book is an interview with author Diane Setterfield. I am always interested in how other authors write, as there are so many ways to approach the craft. I want to share with you a few excerpts from the interview.

This book took three years to write and its real genesis was longer still: there was no single moment when I thought: ‘Aha! What a great idea!’ Rather there was a slow and gradual accumulation of numerous small ideas....

Once I had a voice and an event, I started to write scenes in a rather tentative, experimental fashion. Little by little I worked out what the story was by following my characters.

(Sounds to me like Setterfield started with some vague ideas. She wrote a variety of scenes that later wove themselves together.)

Does everyone have a story? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. But it’s not always the one we think we have.

(I need to think about that last sentence some more. What story do I have to tell that is not the one I think I have?)

Margaret was the last character to fall into place...

(I find this very interesting. Margaret is the real storyteller in this book, yet she was the last character to be included.)

I vacillate about which of the many methods of writing I should use when authoring a book—especially a novel. Do I need to construct all of my characters and have a complete outline in place before writing or should I just write detailed scenes and events as they occur to me and then see how they fit into a story line?