Jacob Szymanski

Do you think you'll be too critical?

In so many art forms, you have to know when the project is done, when the song is done, when the movie is done.

But in literature, there's so many ways that you can phrase something, you can structure a paragraph.

I'd argue it's one of the hardest art forms to say, it's done.

And I don't blame you at all for having that feeling.

It's actually not the first time we've had an author express that.

Now, what about My Sister the Serial Killer?

Because that came out in 2018.

Have you heard the audiobook for that?

You haven't.

She thinks I'm a fraud.

I mean, I wonder if most authors could remember the first lines of their book.

I mean, how often is the first line especially relevant in the grand scheme of things?

um and i think that first line was one of those ones that was so easy and helped me just get right into the story and and get going um but now i've learned it because i don't want to embarrass myself like that again prepared for that interaction for next time um yeah i want to ask you a couple questions about your process about how you write because every author does this differently do you write with a plan do you write chronologically like how does your process work

See, I heard George R.R.

Martin, he's the author of the Song of Ice and Fire series, the one that the Game of Thrones TV series is based off.

He had an analogy about writing and planning.

He said there were two different types of authors, architects and gardeners.

It sounds to me like you're a gardener where you plant your seeds and watch them grow.

So it's interesting.