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| Daryl Wood Gerber |
DARYL: Writing the first draft of a manuscript is always an adventure. I work from an outline. I didn’t always. I wrote by the seat of my pants. But most of those novels are still on the shelves. Hm, wonder why? Probably because they didn’t have punch and meandered.
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| Daryl's Desk |
Back when I wrote screenplays (I was a professional actress
a long time ago, and I wrote a number of screenplays that hopefully I could
star or co-star in—alas, we moved away from Hollywood and that dream
fizzled)…but I digress. Back when I
wrote screenplays, I always outlined. A screenplay, in essence, is an outline.
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| Outline of Location |
Interior – Bedroom –
night
Clara opens the door.
The light is off. She hears snoring…or is it someone sawing? Cue: Scary music.
Now, as I outline, I do the same thing. I create a barebones
outline.
Chapter
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Location/time
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Characters
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Action
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Clues/set-ups
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1
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Clara’s bedroom/night
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Clara
Surprise guest
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Clara hears snoring. Switches on light. Sees burglar
sawing a hole in her wall.
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None yet
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For a mystery, I create about thirty chapters. I double the
chapters for a suspense novel.
Some people ask me whether outlining takes the fun out of
writing the book. I don’t think so. I always knows who did it and why. I know
the victim and suspects. I establish their motives and alibis. Plus, I try to
know “where” they are at all times, especially the killer.
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| Outline with Copious Notes |
But, let’s face it, even using an outline, surprise moments
occur and the story changes. And surprise characters show up. And some
characters demand more “page time.” (Yes, they talk to me…sort of. I’m not
entirely nuts.) When things change, I fix my outline. See, I consider it a road
map. I know I’m driving from Los Angeles to Florida and I’m taking route
10. If I just take the direct route, it might
get boring; it might not. However, at any time, I can decide to veer off to see
San Antonio or Taos. That doesn’t really change the “plan.” I still know I’m
going to Florida. So I take the excursion. Have fun. Do something exciting. Add
those scenes that didn’t come to me in the initial outline.
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| Final Draft for Editing |
And honestly, the most fun I have when writing a novel is after I’ve finished the first draft and I can return to the story fresh and tweak to my heart’s delight. I tweak the dialogue. I tweak the B, C, and D subplots. I add “fun” events that will enhance the life of my protagonist. I add color and texture for each character and location, which helps me “see” the book come alive…like a movie.
If you’re a writer, do you like to outline?
If you’re a reader, do you think most writers only write one
draft and it comes out perfectly with no errors? (Ha! As if!)
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| Nov 7, 2017 |
It’s always been Mimi Rousseau’s dream to open her own bistro, but it seems beyond her grasp since she’s been chased back home to Nouvelle Vie in Napa Valley by her late husband’s tremendous debt. Until her best friend Jorianne James introduces her to entrepreneur Bryan Baker who invests in promising prospects. Now, working the bistro and inn until she’s able to pay it off and call it her own, Mimi is throwing the inn’s first wedding ever.
The wedding will be the talk of the town, as famous talk show host Angelica Edmonton, daughter of Bryan’s half-brother, Edison, has chosen the inn as her perfect venue. Anxious, Mimi is sure things are going to turn south, especially when Edison gets drunk and rowdy at the out-of-towners’ dinner, but by the evening, things begin to look up again. That is until six AM rolls around, and Bryan is found dead at the bistro with an éclair stuffed in his mouth. And the fingers point at Mimi, whose entire loan is forgiven in Bryan’s will.
Now it’s up to Mimi to clear her name and get to the bottom of things before the killer turns up the heat again in A Deadly Éclair, the scrumptious series debut by Agatha Award-winning author Daryl Wood Gerber.
Agatha Award-winning Daryl Wood Gerber is best known for her nationally bestselling Cookbook Nook Mysteries and CHEESE SHOP MYSTERIES, which she pens as Avery Aames. She will soon debut the new French Bistro Mysteries. A DEADLY ÊCLAIR comes out November 2017. Daryl also writes stand-alone suspense: DAYS OF SECRETS and GIRL ON THE RUN. Fun tidbit: as an actress, Daryl appeared in “Murder, She Wrote.” She loves to cook, and she has a frisky Goldendoodle named Sparky who keeps her in line!
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