Goodreads asked Annette Ranald:

How do you get inspired to write?

Annette Ranald My characters find me somehow. I do a lot of reading. When I run across a character that intrigues me, that I can't get out of my head, I start researching. If a story starts to string together, I go with it. Many of my leading characters were the antiheros of their era or event. For example, in Under an Evil Star, my protagonist and narrator is Louis Keseberg, the villain of the piece. I chose him because he was the last survivor of the Donner Party. As awful as he was, he was one with the most information about what happened during the last 6-8 weeks of it. Also, when I read about him, I realized he was being blamed for a lot that he didn't do. He wasn't a nice guy, but he wasn't a murderer, either. My defense attorney's instincts kicked in at that point.

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