Kathleen Short-Ridge asked Sabrina Jeffries:

I love your books and recently got hooked reading them while out of sync. I got hooked. Especially with the ones that have to do with messed up yet close families. You have them down perfect. One question I have is when you are writing and have an idea for a plot and different scenes in your head, how can you break the writers block and connect them? Thank you very much! Fellow Author

Sabrina Jeffries It sounds to me as if you're one of those writers who sees things in bursts--a scene here and a scene there. I don't see them that way. I see the plot as an organic whole. One thing leads to the next leads to the next . . . Like a giant puzzle. I work out my plot long before I start writing (not everyone does). And then, as I write, I fine-tune based on the characters I'm getting to know.

But that's because I'm plot-driven. Is it possible you're character-driven, i.e., you see plot events as disparate things that have to happen for your character to be revealed and make choices? I'm the opposite. I don't really know my characters well when I start, so I create a plot that makes sense and then I let my characters act it out until I figure them out. Then the whole thing comes together.

You have to find your own process that works. I do a lot of rewriting--perhaps that would work for you, too. Just start writing and see where it goes. As someone said (I think Nora Roberts), you can't fix a blank page.

Sorry, this probably isn't much help. It's hard for a writer to explain WHY their process is the way it is. And that's what it takes to tell someone how to do it the same way. That's why you have to find your own way by trial and error.

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