The plot thickens…
Have you ever made homemade fresh strawberry pie? I’m sure there a gazillion different recipes out there, but most of them are basically the same. It involves heating up the sauce, pouring said sauce over the strawberries that have been carefully arranged in in a pre-made crust (I prefer short bread), and leaving the pie in the fridge for a few hours (overnight is best).
The sauce takes the longest. Usually consisting of sugar, water, and a starch (maybe flavoring), You stir the ingredients CONTINUALLY until the sauce thickens to the desired consistency.
There is no shortcut here. In order for the sauce to come out right, you have to stand over the stove and stir and stir…and stir. If you give up before the starch chemically reacts and thickens, it won’t set up correctly in the refrigerator. If it gets too thick, you won’t be able to pour it properly over the fruit so that it fills all the nooks and crannies in the pie.
Starting a book to me is like washing and hulling the strawberries and either buying or making the crust, no brainers, honestly. The books always start with the catalyst crime scene. You got a body, you got a rural setting for the body… Go.
I like that because I can add those few pages from the upcoming book at the end of the previous book as a nice teaser. It forces me to stay on task (not an easy thing for me with most things).
Admittedly I hate outlining. It’s like the incessant stirring on the stove. You know the inert ingredients will come together, you’ve done it before, Yet, as you stand there over the stove and watch the watery soup basically do nothing for what seems like forever, you start to have doubts.
What if the premise is too absurd? What if the plot is too convoluted to keep the readers attention? What if the instillation of characters don’t make any sense? IS IT REALLY GOING TO WORK THIS TIME?
Fortunately, I’m starting to see a glaze form on the spoon. I’ll keep you posted.