Jennifer Egan is a master of disguise. Each of her five works of fiction plays with different literary tropes—Her 2001 novel "Look at Me" owes a debt to hard-boiled detective fiction; her 2006 book "The Keep," toyed with Gothic tradition. Her latest and most experimental work, "A Visit From the Goon Squad," hopscotches across time via interconnected short stories set in the past as well as the future. Each story uses a different literary technique--one particularly heart-stopping tale is told as a PowerPoint presentation. Last month the book won the National Book Critics Circle Award.

On the eve of its paperback publication, Egan and her cats Cuddles and Diamond hosted the Wall Street Journal in her study on the third floor of her Fort Greene, Brooklyn home and spoke about her writing processes (in addition to fiction, she writes long-form articles for The New York Times Magazine).

Here's an edited look at what she told us:

My process for fiction and nonfiction are really different. When I'm writing fiction I don't like writing at a desk. I'll often write at this [gingham easy] chair that I got at Ikea. It's awful, there are pen marks all over it. If I'm writing original stuff and not editing I often use a lap desk and I write on legal pads. Anything that involves typing or businessy stuff, I'll do at the desk. The actual creation is always by hand, away from the computer.

My cats are a big part of my work life. They're in and out of here all day long.