Like athletes who adhere to specific routines on game day, writers have their own tools and routines for, shall we say, getting the ball into the end zone. As she approaches the end of her first draft, Elston pulls a six-foot sheet of brown butcher paper from a roll on a specially installed rod near her desk. This two-yard stretch then becomes a playing field for her story, beginning with chapter descriptions jotted on large sticky notes. She said in a phone interview, “If I can’t sum up what’s happening, maybe it shouldn’t be there. It has to have a purpose.” She went on, “I sit back in my chair and start thinking about what’s not working and how I need to move things around.”

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Persons: Ashley Elston, Reese, ”, Elston, “, what’s