" If a character is in a room, I ask myself: what is she noticing? What does it feel like to be in her shoes? What does this situation remind her of . . . what hopes or fears does it invoke . . . how is all of that influencing her right now—and how will it color the words she speaks next, when someone asks her an unexpected question? Once I’ve spent enough time with my characters, I’m able to begin to guess how they might respond to their circumstances. And that’s when the novel’s storyline begins to emerge. Which is to say: this novel was an act of improvisation. "

― Rachel Kadish , The Weight of Ink