Marcy Dermansky, author of "Twins"

I am not an identical twin. Before writing TWINS, I had started another novel about a young woman in San Francisco and then I realized that the last thing I wanted to do was write a book about myself. Instead, I set out to amuse myself. I started with a new, outlandish voice (Sue) and then countered her voice with a quiet, controlled opposite (Chloe).

I have always been fascinated by twins. I'm also drawn to coming of age tales, stories of troubled teens, confused college students; the stories of disaffected, young women always pull me in. I made Chloe and Sue blond and beautiful because I could, and smart, too, because I'm only interested in intelligent, sensitive suffering characters.

Unfortunately, a lot of me snuck into TWINS after all. I grew up in suburban New Jersey. We only had standard poodles. I rode a unicycle in high school. My older brother taught me how to play basketball (though I have never played on a team.) I also have an older sister, so the numerical make up of the family mirrors my own. My caring, attentive parents--for the record--are not divorce lawyers. My father sells plastic -- and yes, this is a reference that comes straight out of "The Graduate," but also happens to be true.

Many aspects of my own personality are divided between the two twins (I know close to nothing about astrology but I am a Gemini -- the twin sign). But Chloe and Sue are very much their own people. Their adolescence is far more interesting, wrought, and event-driven than my own (which was quiet and excessively dull, if not particularly happy.)

For research, I read numerous non-fiction books about twins, and another historical account about Nazi doctor Joseph Mengele. I interviewed an identical twin and I was pleased to learn that from an early age, she did not get along with her sister.

I also studied basketball. Midway through the novel, Chloe decided to became an avid basketball player so I wanted to make sure I got the details right. This meant more books from the library and some nights in front of the television, watching college games. I considered going to a Knicks game, but balked when I learned the price of the tickets.

I do not work with an outline, preferring to follow the story wherever the characters might take it. The plot often surprised me as I was writing. Somehow, I enjoyed Sue's state of constant torment, but I felt terrible pangs of guilt for being so cruel to Chloe. All along, I knew I would make it up to her.

It took two years to write TWINS. It felt like a big sacrifice at the time: no money, no social life, no real time for anything but writing. But in retrospect, I realize the writing was a blast. The best time ever. Sitting at my dimly lit corner desk, late at night, in an otherwise dark, silent room, typing away.

Marcy Dermansky is the author of Twins.