ABSTRACT
Author Patricia MacLachlan discusses with her editor, Charlotte Zolotow, how she solves problems in writing:
I try to anticipate the experience of the reader. I myself, of course, am the first reader, and I try to envision a small, objective, heartless Patty MacLachlan looking over my shoulder saying, “Aw, come on!” when I am clumsy or self-indulgent. But the small Patty MacLachlan somehow turns into a Charlotte Zolotow. Her voice has become ingrained in my consciousness; I can hear her.
I’ve passed this on. My daughter Emily is becoming a wonderful, imaginative writer herself, and we spend a good deal of time discussing her work. “When I write a theme in class,” she told me the other day, “I hear your voice in my ear.”
(MacLachlan 1989, pp. 740–741)