Al asked Andrea Bartz:

I just finished "The Herd." Amazing, intricate, and unpredictable plot twists. You must do a lot of outlining before you start writing. What's the process?

Andrea Bartz Thanks so much for reading it—and for the kind words! I actually don't outline at all. I pitch my editor the basic idea of the book—the set-up, characters, "hook," and first few beats of the plot—and then, once she approves it, I start writing with no idea where the story's going next. I have daily word-count goals so that I'll keep adding bricks to the wall even when I'm not feeling inspired. Typically as I'm writing one scene, the next one starts to take shape in my mind. So the twists come as a surprise to me, and there are many, many moments of doubt when I'm convinced all the pieces will never click together! But thankfully, so far anyway, they always have...the subconscious seems to know what it's doing. By the time I've finished a first draft, I more or less know what the story is, and I immediately go back to Page 1 to move things around and change details so it all works. From there, the process is pretty much like any author's: I send it to beta readers and get notes, revise, send it to my agent and editor, get more notes, revise again, etc. I LOVED writing The Herd and was so bummed so few people read it (it came out in late March 2020.......), so thanks again for picking it up!

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