Alexandra: I’ll go with the character [okay, cool] one first because that’s what I normally always do first when I start off.

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Kevin: Charts by hand?

Alexandra: I did all the charts by hand. I would. [very organized] Yeah. So what I would basically do is I would draw draw lines down the paper, [um hm] and then I would just put here, you know, like character name, middle name, last name, hair color, blah, blah, blah. And then I would put the name and then I would do it all.

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Alexandra: What would normally happen is I would have my notebook, and the first four or five pages or so would be the charts, and the music, [um hm] and those sorts of things, and then I would actually just start the chapter. Um, and if I’d have to go, "well what color hair does Aunt Fiona have?" I’d flip back and be like, "oh, she’s got this neon red hair." And I’d be like, "oh yeah, and I’ll say that it looks like a pufferfish" and blah, blah, blah. [yeah] Um. So, occasionally I would reference the stuff, but it was more just like me putting down what I think so that I, I keep track of it and then I would just go through and.

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Kevin: What’s the function of the school schedule [that Alexandra created for one of her novels]?

Alexandra: Uh, to keep track of where the characters are when. [I see] Because they they when they are going to the high school, [because they’re high school students] they’re high school students, yeah, yeah, they gotta go to high school, um, so I just. And to know who’s in class with whom at what time. You know, when’s lunch. That sort of thing.

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Kevin: So this chart was made, so this is like afterwards or before? Was this before?

Alexandra: Um, before. [So you’re looking forward?] Before. I did, um. Behind all the charts, I had a summary chapter by chapter, with about three lines each of what I thought the chapter name would be called, what I thought would happen there, and then I would go to the next one. So, um. But that ended up being the rough rough rough rough draft. [uh huh] Um, like, I thought some of the other relatives would be interacting, and I thought other [um hm] this other character named Laura from modern day that I ended up going "that would be just be too weird so I got rid of her. [uh huh] Um. And I added other characters, and changed, just changed a lot.