It is said that spending time in a sukkah reminds us of how fragile life is. Without four solid walls to protect us, we are exposed and made aware of our tenuous existence. Rain seeps between the ceiling of the palm fronds. The wind blows through the gaps in the walls. Animals crawl in from beneath, and the temperatures rise and fall indeterminately.

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As I work on the final draft of my novel, my family puts on the final touches to our sukkah, and I think of the similarity between building a sukkah and constructing a plot. The frame of the sukkah must be rooted strongly enough to withstand the elements, and yet the walls and the ceiling must be open enough to allow the structure to breathe. And so with the plot of a novel, the story needs a strong outline from which the writer can develop the idea and yet, the structure should not be too rigid, allowing for unexpected twists, and surprises that take even the writer by surprise.

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According to tradition, on each night of Sukkoth the "Ushpizin" (the seven Jewish patriarchs) come to the Sukkah, their presence contributing to the atmosphere. As writers, it's the characters we create who give spice (like the four spices which we bless) and atmosphere to our stories.

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I remember that while gathering research for my novel Freefall, I interviewed a Moroccan girl who was not shy about teasing me about our cultural differences. She was so vivacious and forthcoming that I knew I had to have a character modeled after her. She became one of my favorite people in the book. Aggie, the protagonist, meets Lily at boot camp and is not sure what to make of her. While paired up during a survival exercise in the middle of the Negev, where they have to hone their navigational skills, Aggie is caught off guard by Lily who has her own way of doing things.

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Lily pulls out a small palm-sized instrument.

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"GPS!"

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"Shh!" She puts up a hand to hush me even though there's no one in sight.

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"Sound travels in the desert. If the other girls hear you, we'll have the whole bunch of them here."

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Lily's spunk, loyalty and friendship encourage Aggie to take chances and become a more well-rounded individual, and a more interesting character in the novel. Though I had the story structure before meeting Lily's model, I had room to let her personality take shape and make changes within.

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And finally, what is a Sukkah without people to come in and take part in the celebration? For the writer, our readers are our honored guests.

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So please, come in! Have a seat. Join me. Thank you for what you bring to this story because without you to read, interpret and contribute your thoughts, the words, our stories, would go untold.

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Chag Sama'ach.

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Thank you for reading JWorld Cafe, the Poetica Magazine Blog

Anna Levine, Guest Blogger

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Anna Levine is the author of Freefall (Greenwillow/HarperCollins 2008) this year's Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner which is set in Israel. She has also won a Sydney Taylor Notable Award for her picture book Jodie's Hanukkah Dig (Kar-Ben Publishing, 2008) set in the city of Modi'in. Levine has written prize winning short stories and poems for various children's magazines. She says, "I write about Israel and from Israel. The country, the culture and the people are a constant source of inspiration." Visit her websites: www.annalevine.org or read a recent interview with her on School Library Journal's WAR blog (war against racism) http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/620000062.html