Goodreads asked Scott Lothian:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Scott Lothian When you think of a concept for a novel, get a notebook and outline the big chunks, then select names and places to further fill out the story. Research the bigger aspects of the story and then let the other parts come along as you write. If you outline and research everything from the start, your story may never grow beyond those constraints. Plotting out a book is like taking a trip. You may plan to start in Chicago, stop in St. Louis and then end in San Francisco, but you cannot control what happens along the way. You can build out the bones of a story, but the flesh of the story is the characters you invent or invite along the way and the places you stop and situations that occur in between. Let it happen and don’t force it. The best ideas often come when you are not tied down to a routine or sitting in front of a keyboard.

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