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One of the things that's pretty unique about nu shu, when you look especially at these old letters and stories that have been saved, is that there are certain lines that are very standard that are used again and again. It's almost like a formula in a sense, so that these certain lines come up again and again.

Nu shu means women's writing. And it was a secret writing system that was invented by women, used by women and kept a secret by women in one very remote county in China for a thousand years. It's the only language that was invented and used by women to have been found anywhere in the world.

I've done literally 100, 150 different characters. Some of them have only appeared for a line or three. But the point is, every sound I can make has been harvested.

If you have a craftsman's command of the language and basic writing techniques you'll be able to write - as long as you know what you want to say.

What I'm really trying to do is create unique characters.

When I create a character, it happens in layers. The more I write and revise, the better I understand the characters.

I probably read 100 times more than I write, but that way when I move my characters through it, I know.

Over the years, I've trained myself to speak using the same language I would use if I were typing: meaning using full sentences in the way that paragraphs and scenes are arranged.

I tend to write one character at a time. But I don't write the entirety of one character at a time.

To write you have to be able to know how to put words together.