On Writing in Monthly Numbers

Most of my novels reach readers a part at a time, one green-covered number each month, and I have come to think the arrangement is good for the work.

A writer who must stop every thirty-two pages learns to end each part so that the reader cannot bear to wait. It is a discipline, and an exacting one, but it has kept me honest.

It also means that I hear what readers think while the story is still being written. I do not always take their advice. But I always read the letters.