Dear Friends,

To outline or not to outline, that is often the question for mystery writers. Whether ‘tis nobler to suffer the surprises as your characters take over and write their own sometimes outrageous fortunes, or outline the whole story in advance, risk losing spontaneity, and possibly avoid a sea of troubles.

Take a look at the work of some of your favorite mystery authors, and make a guess as to whether their stories are outlined first, or if they wing it as they go along. Is your favorite author a “plotter” or do you think they write by the seat of their pants, a “pantster?” Agatha Cristie, with her unforeseen (by the reader) mysterious twists? Robert Crais, with his brilliant pacing, keeping you on the edge of your seat? Carl Hiaasen, where the rollicking story rolls along, you know not where?

When I wrote non-fiction, my native compulsivity took over as I taped multiple layers of outlines, color-coded no less, all over one wall in the office. The writing phase breezed along, seeming to need only the addition of the appropriate parts of grammar to tie the outline into prose. Only now am I learning that writing fiction is a whole other language than writing science.

Still, convinced of the power of an outline, I sat down to start the fifth book in the Estela Nogales series with a timeline, a plot, and 8 pages of lists including character biographies, suspects, scenes, clues, and red herrings. I committed to writing at least 500 words a day, to get myself back into my drafting rhythm. Everything went as planned until the fourth day, when I discovered, to my astonishment, that, unbeknownst to everyone including myself, that scamp Estela may have been carrying on with someone over in Cayucos all this time. So much for detailed outlines!

For fun, below is the draft prologue for this fifth book, as yet untitled:

Prologue

Pushed by an unseen hand, the bundle wrapped in a ragged sheet and tied with blue dock line rolled off the gunwale. Fog and a gentle sea quieted any splash as the weight slipped beneath the gray-green surface. The mournful cry of one seagull serenaded, and the body disappeared into the depths. No loving words of farewell were spoken, no remembrances uttered. Wavelets lapped at the bow, turned now, heading toward shore.

Congratulations to the winners of Fire at Will’s audiobooks: Vivian Rambo, a long-time subscriber and supporter, and Sara McKinley, an enthusiastic review writer and new subscriber. If you did not win, the audiobook is for sale through Audible on the Fire at Will’s page at Amazon, where it is enjoying startling success. My favorite voice is Helen, who somehow comes across as both deadpan and hysterical.

Saving the best news for last, all four books are now on the shelf at our favorite independent bookstore, Face in a Book in El Dorado Hills. If you would like a signed copy of any of the books, please drop by the bookstore on Friday, August 18 between 6:30-8:00, and I will be thrilled to sign your books and share a few laughs.

Also, the series is now listed with a national distributor, so everyone, no matter where they live, should be able to walk into their local bookstore and order the books. If you do this, please let me know how it goes, as I’m anxious to know if this actually works.

Thank you again for your support and encouragement!