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Hi, Charlotte.

Thanks for posting. I’m pleased to hear that my books, especially MASTERMINDS, are going over well with you.

Your questions: My ideas for books, settings, and characters come from plain old hard work, and a lot of thinking and plotting. No big mystery; it’s just work. The basic plot and the main character — that’s what comes first. I build and expand on that until I have a detailed outline that I write down. It can be a short book in itself, often coming to 8 or 10 single-spaced pages. The book grows from there. That is, I plan the ending, and then write towards it. I believe that, in writing, planning is everything. You can’t say anything well unless you know exactly what you need to say. And you can’t know that unless you plan.

Good luck with your project, and Happy New Year!                               —–Gordon Korman—–