By the mid-1970s, Rossner was a writer of "impeccable literary credentials," but her three novels had not sold well. Following "Any Minute I Can Split", Rossner began a novel about two women who marry conjoined twins. In the meantime, Nora Ephron, who was editing a women's issue of "Esquire", invited Rossner to participate. Rossner, who had been recovering from a car accident, had become interested in the true story of Roseann Quinn, a 28-year-old schoolteacher who had been brutally murdered in January 1973 by a man she had reportedly picked up in a singles bar. Rossner wrote an article about Quinn, but "Esquire" declined to publish it, fearing legal ramifications. Rossner, who considered herself a "lousy journalist," decided to write the story as a novel.