I Spy with My Critical Eye: Books and Baking Require Time

Writing a first draft requires a unique set of skills. All month, we’re asking authors to look back on their past first drafts… and the lessons they’ve learned from them. Today, Penny Warner, author of mystery series including Death of a Chocolate Eater , shares why cake-baking and writing have a lot in common:

I see writing the first draft of a novel as sort of like baking a cake. It’s the foundation for the fancy dessert you end up with, but you can’t frost it and add all those pretty roses without first baking that cake. 

Writing the first draft of a mystery novel is painful. Although I love the idea of starting a new story, I’m also overwhelmed by all that white space under the words: Chapter 1. So the first thing I do is create an outline from an idea…

For example, my latest mystery, Death of a Chocolate Eater, began with—of course—my love of chocolate. My protagonist works in a food truck with her eccentric aunt, and they’re participating in the annual San Francisco Chocolate Festival. Voila—I have my characters, setting and the beginning of a plot.

From that kernel, I jot down an outline that helps me know where I’m going—it’s like a writing recipe. The next step is fleshing out the outline to weave an intriguing story full of plot twists, interesting characters, clues and red herrings, and so on. That takes time and stick-to-itiveness, so every day I set myself a goal of writing half a chapter—5 pages, give or take. I don’t look back; I just keep going until I reach my total word-count of around 80,000 words. 

When the manuscript is finally “done,” I begin the process of rewriting—which I love. Now I can “decorate” the story, have fun with the language, etc. 

One last thing—I don’t believe in writers’ block. Imagine if you were a teacher—which I am as well—you really can’t go into a classroom and tell the kids you have “teacher’s block” so class is dismissed. Same with writing: you just have to do it, and see where it takes you. And to my surprise, I generally like the end result. 

Plus, I eat a lot of chocolate as I go. I mean, everyone needs an incentive, right? 

Penny Warner writes the Agatha Award-winning middle-grade mystery series, The Code Busters Club, the adult mystery series, How to Host a Killer Party, and the new series Death of a Crabby Cook and Death of a Chocolate Eater, featuring food trucks and food festivals. She’s also the author of the Official Nancy Drew Handbook, and writes fund-raising murder mystery events for libraries across the country.

Top photo by Flickr user Richard Jones.