I want to see what their life is like, to dig into that life and see how it feels to be them. A lot of times the plot comes from the situations that they place themselves into. Marjorie calls herself a victim of circumstance, but she's always placing herself in situations that set her off. She wants to do these things, even though she says she doesn't. She's a wonderful liar.
All great storytellers are wonderful liars.
I picked up the voice from a collection of oral histories from Vietnam veterans. It was a guy who'd been in prison and was gleefully recounting his crime, until he realized that he should be feeling remorse, and his tone changed completely. I wanted that voice, that character, in my book. If you look at the chapters, a lot of the questions in the first half are simple exposition questions. I get the hook in by mentioning the murders, but then I slowly build up her background, just the way that King would.