A Goodreads user asked Jennifer A. Nielsen:

Hi Mrs.Nielsen, I'm a huge fan of all your books!!! How do you figure out which lines to keep in your books and which ones to change/delete? I'm writing a book, and I'm stuck. I keep writing lines then going...eh this is too cheesy/short etc. I also work more on what characters look like, act like and stuff than the actual book. How do you balance making characters and writing the actual book out?

Jennifer A. Nielsen Hi Kara,

I think what you're stumbling on is the fact that your sentences aren't perfect, and that's messing with you a little, because on a first draft, most of the sentences are going to be pretty rough or short, or cheesy. And that's okay. You need to accept that it's not good writing now, but you will fix it on the rewrite. Then when you go back through the second, third, or fourth times, then you will have a better idea of what to keep or change or delete, because now you have an overall picture of the entire story as it is on paper. At that point, it will be clear what needs to change.

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