Yann Martel and process

Just read an interview with Yann Martel author of Life of Pi and a series of notes he has written for his next novel. It is very revealing about his process for writing. He says that art takes from life and gives it meaning- which I agree with. He does a lot of research for his novels and explores concepts which fascinate him. It took him four years to write Life of Pi (which I love!). You can find the notes and his interview with a collection called "the notebooks". With my own process I'm still trying to work this out. With Vixen I discovered her character first- then put her in history as a backdrop. With my short stories I write by concept- things that fascinate me that i want to explore. I am trying to build a new novel and at the moment I have the characters but not the narrattive framework to put them in. It will come- I have faith if they want their stories told in a certain way they will let me know.