Response to Nancy Werlin

From: Jane Yolen
Date: Fri, 4 May 2001
Subject: Flying into the Mist
To: magazine@hbook.com

I absolutely agree with Nancy Werlin in her “Horning in” article. Like Nancy, I do not outline when I write but rather “fly into the mist” as one writer friend calls it. There are always characters arguing with me in my head. And even when I try not to listen to them, they are there: insistent, seductive, overpowering.

I would never presume to tell Jennifer Armstrong how to write her books. If outlining works for her, I am delighted. She writes strong books. So does Werlin. So, I hope, do I.

Jane Yolen
author of (among others) Armageddon Summer, The Devil’s Arithmetic, Dragon’s Blood, Queen’s Own Fool and 200 more.