Writing Fiction Often Follows a Twisty Path

by Terrie Farley Moran
Fiction! Reading fiction spurs the reader’s imagination and helps it fly away as if on a winged horse. Writing fiction—well, that is a different horse entirely, more like a plough horse working a stiff and rocky field.
Ever since I read Fun with Dick and Jane in my first grade classroom many decades ago, I have been the person who longs to spend every spare moment curled up with a good book.
More recently, shortly after the dawn of the new century, I decided to take a stab at writing fiction. Over the course of a couple of years I wrote a cozy mystery novel, and, as it turns out, not a very good one. I then trained my writerly focus on short mystery fiction, which is the one true love of my readerly life.
As time went by, I honed my craft, as writers like to say, and editors began to publish my short stories in anthologies and in mystery magazines like Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock.
Time for a twist in the writer’s road. I kept trying to find an agent who would love my cozy novel and sell it to a publisher. Finally, the magnificent Kim Lionetti of Bookends took pity on me. I twisted right into being an author represented by an agent! Kim told me straight out that the novel I’d written was unsalable but she liked my writer voice and asked if I’d try again. And so I did. The effort resulted in a contract with Berkley for the Read ’Em and Eat beach-side cozy series starting with Well Read, Then Dead. So there’s another twist. I’d gone from reader to short story writer and somehow, I’d become a full-fledged novelist.
I am still awed that Well Read, Then Dead won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel and was followed by Caught Read-Handed and Read to Death. So how many more twists could there be in my career path?
Let me give you a giant clue—when the phone rings, you should always answer it. I answered my ringing telephone and a woman asked if she’d reached Terrie Moran. Boy, am I glad I wasn’t hiding from bill collectors so could freely admit I was, indeed, Terrie Moran, because the next words out of her mouth were: “Hi. This is Laura Childs”.
I’ve been a huge fan of the wonderful mysteries written by Laura Childs for years. I started with the Tea Shop Mysteries. (Yay Theodosia, Drayton, and Charleston, South Carolina!) Next, I found the Cackleberry Club Series. (Suzanne, Toni, and Petra are so much fun.) I felt a bit late coming to the Scrapbooking Series (Carmela, Ava, and New Orleans, Baby!) However, by the time of the phone call, I’d read four or five of those.
The year before, I was majorly thrilled when someone at Berkley, our mutual publisher, asked Laura to consider blurbing Well Read, Then Dead and she had graciously agreed.
So I stood in my living room, phone in hand, wondering if this was the real Laura Childs at the other end of the call, and if so, what could she possibly want with me? As it turns out, we had a lovely conversation and I felt astounded when she asked if I’d consider co-writing the next book in the Scrapbooking series.
Can you say laissez le bon temps rouler? (Let the good times roll.)
I didn’t hesitate.
Our agents and our editor worked on contracts, and soon enough the hard work of writing began. Fortunately for me, Laura Childs is the most organized writer on the planet. We started with a lengthy outline and a clear idea of the characters and their expected behavior in this particular book. One of our early issues is the fact that I didn’t know Carmela, Ava, and the Scrapbooking gang nearly as well as I knew Sassy, Bridgy, and the Read ’Em and Eat gang. I hustled to get up to speed and it wasn’t always easy. Although I had a reader’s knowledge of the characters, a writer’s knowledge is more intimate. Boom! Another twist in my writing life. I became an adoptive parent of sorts to the Scrapbooking crew while loving my Read ’Em and Eat folks as much as ever.
I assumed Parchment and Old Lace might be a one-off, so I felt thrilled when Laura invited me to join forces again and again. Our third collaboration, Glitter Bomb, was released in October 2018 and I look forward to the release of Mumbo Gumbo in October 2019. In the meantime, I intend to untwist for a bit and curl up on the couch with a cup of Irish Breakfast Tea, a couple of iced scones, and a copy of Laura’s latest Tea Shop Mystery, Broken Bone China, release date March, 29, 2019. I hope you will enjoy it, too.

Terrie Farley Moran is the best-selling author of the Read ‘Em and Eat cozy mystery series including Well Read, Then Dead, winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Her short mystery fiction has been published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and numerous anthologies. The Read ’Em and Eat prequel, A Killing at the Beausoleil, was an Agatha Award nominee for Best Short Story, while Inquiry and Assistance won the Derringer Award for Best Novelette. Terrie co-writes Laura Childs’s Scrapbooking Mystery series.