The main thing about that book was that it was in me.

I did not have to find it.

It was there and it was demanding to be written.

The characters were in my mind very clearly from the beginning.

And that never happens.

I'm always struggling.

I'm always fumbling.

It takes me a while to get to know who they are and what do they want and what's the goal,

et cetera, et cetera.

In this case, it was all very clear to me.

I saw this, the main thing I saw in the beginning was this child who had had this horrible, horrible childhood, badly traumatized that turned him into this person who's sort of monstrous.

And I thought, how do you, what do you do for this person or what's needed here for some kind of a balance?

And the heroin was there instantly.

It was like, okay, she's someone who just gets it.

She gets the thinking.

She gets the guy thinking.

She gets whatever it is.

And why is she that way?

Because she grew up with boys all the time.

And she's just smart and paying attention.

So I needed someone who could see through him.

And Jessica just came to my mind.

...