A Guest Post by Judith Fertig
Writing a food-based novel was a great way to refresh my career when I’d written about food in many other ways. For me, it has been a logical as well as a re-energizing next step, long in the making.
Although I still write cookbooks and freelance articles, I carve out time for fiction because it revives and refuels me in a way that nonfiction doesn’t. When I’m writing non-fiction, the meter is running. I pay attention to how much time I spend on each piece versus what I get paid. There is the grocery shopping, the recipe testing, the restaurant reviewing, the cooking class teaching, and the inevitable kitchen cleaning. I’m in business, after all.
But with fiction, that meter goes away. An hour here or there is not enough. I want to lose myself in the imaginary world I create. I need deep time to get into the characters and story. Writing fiction takes as long as it takes.
I launched into the cookbook world in 1990 and I’ve written about 20 books. I’m still going. But a food-based novel simmered on a backburner. I knew I had to wait until I had both time to work on it and money to keep my life going in the process.
I started thinking in fictional what ifs. Flavor has always been transporting to me. What if flavor could be a link to my main character’s inner life? I wrote the first chapter and shared it with a Kansas City writers group. It was beautifully written, they said, so descriptive and appealing to the senses.
But nothing much happened.
I knew I needed help, so I enrolled in a summer course at the Iowa Writers Workshop in Iowa City, Iowa, and hammered out the plot. Then I wrote the first draft at The Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, joined a novel writers’ group and work-shopped each chapter.
Then I had to find a fiction agent. I looked at food-based novels that were similar to mine and noted the agents thanked in the authors’ acknowledgements. I wrote a pitch letter—with a great visual of a wedding cake—and sent The Cake Therapist off to several agents until it found a home and a publisher.
Since publishing The Cake Therapist in 2015, I’ve written a follow-up book, The Memory of Lemon, in 2016, which won the Kansas Notable Book Award in 2017.
__________
I’m giving away a copy of The Cake Therapist to a lucky someone who leaves a comment, so please make sure to do so! It’s the story about a pastry chef who opens a bakery in her hometown, and triggers a long-ago event she thought she left behind.
__________
And if you have a not-so-secret yen to add a food-based novel to your non-fiction writing, here are some of the things I’ve learned:
1. Writing fiction is different from writing non-fiction.
Even if you are an avid reader, an English major, and a polished writer, you still have to learn dialogue, plot and a story arc, fleshing out characters. From which character’s point of view will you write each scene? How will each chapter flow into the next?
2. You get to pick your genre.
I thought mine was mystery, but someone has to die in the first chapters and nobody did in my novel. My genre turned out to be contemporary women’s fiction with a mystery thread.
3. Change the story as much as you like.
With non-fiction, you must be factual and truthful; recipes have to work as written. With fiction, you can change whatever you need to change—even at the last minute with no re-testing—as long as the story is believable.
Judith has since written a follow-up second book, and now she’s working on a third novel.
4. Write the whole book first.
With a cookbook, you can create a proposal with recipes and get a book deal. With a novel, you must complete the manuscript before you can submit to an agent.
Having a local writer’s group in which you offer your work for critique helps tremendously. Food people might love every tiny detail of whipping up a luscious buttercream, but the general reader will simply skip over much of it. Your writers group can tell you how much is too much.
Since most of the editing goes on with your agent and your agent’s hired readers before your manuscript ever reaches an editor’s eye, there is a lot more heavy lifting on the front end.
5. A cookbook author has an advantage.
With an established platform and a publishing track record, a food writer has an advantage over a newbie. I knew how to promote The Cake Therapist, which is more important than ever.
If you have followers on social media and are accustomed to promoting your books, those are also pluses. If you already teach cooking classes, it’s easier to give a book talk, because you’re used to it. And if you promote your cookbook as a guest author at a restaurant event, you can do the same with a novel.
6. You get to visit book clubs.
Although culinary book clubs are starting to be popular (I belong to one), it’s not often that you hear about a cookbook author visiting a book club. Visiting a book club, whether in person, at a library, or via Facetime, Facebook Live, or Skype puts you in touch with your readers in a very real way. It forges a reader/author bond and makes readers feel they know you.
And with all the current dietary restrictions that can make food writing fraught with peril, food in fiction offers comfort reading. In the pages of a novel, your readers can enjoy that fabulous gluten-rich dessert with no calories, no sugar, no guilt; and no shopping, prepping, or cleanup. As a fiction writer, you’re offering pleasure with a virtual flavor, not an actual one. It can be just as delicious.
* * *
Judith Fertig’s work bridges non-fiction and fiction. Fertig specializes in baking, barbecue, and the regional cuisine of the Heartland. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The London Sunday Times, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Better Homes & Gardens, Saveur, Country Living, Fine Cooking, and Cooking Light. The Back in the Swing Cookbook won an IACP Award. Prairie Home Cooking was nominated for both the James Beard and IACP Awards. The Memory of Lemon, Fertig’s second novel, won the Kansas Notable Book Award in 2017. Her debut novel, The Cake Therapist came out in 2015. For more about Judith, go to judithfertig.com.
(Disclosure: This post containes affiliate links.)
* * *
To win a copy of The Cake Therapist, leave a comment below by September 30, 2018. I will pick a winner at random from Random.org. This offer is available to residents of the USA only.
— Dianne
Oh, Judith, I’m looking forward to reading your novels! I’m a big fan of food-centric fiction!
Thank you so much, Julia! Enjoy!
Judith is the cookbook author and Ohio native that I love and adore! She sparkles across the pages of her cookbooks. She might live in Mid America now but she is still a Cincinnati Gal to me! Love you Judith keep me in mind as you create your newest cookbooks!
Thank you so much, Jayne! You can take the girl out of Cincinnati but not the Cincinnati out of the girl!
I’d love to read this book! I’m in the midst of my first food-related middle grade novel and will wholeheartedly concur that it is a very different beast from cookbooks. Learning lots, and I’m inspired by your success in making the switch!
Thank you so much, Kathy, and best of luck on your own novel!
My book groups would
“Eat it up”
Thank you, Regina. It’s a fun but interesting read for a book club!
Congratulations on your foray into fictional writing! I am such a foodie, that I love foodie fiction, especially when the author knows what they are writing about. I look forward to reading The Cake Therapist!
Thank you, Peta-Gaye! Hope you enjoy every bite of cake!
Don’t ever me into the drawing because I won a cookbook from you a few months ago.
But I just wanted to tell Judith thanks for the tips on fiction writing. I don’t have a novel in me yet but this is excellent advice. Also, I love the name of your latest novel. I’ll check it out!
Ugh, not enough coffee. I meant to write don’t enter me into the drawing.
Thank you, Jennifer, for your generous spirit (and good taste, I might add!).
You have piqued my interest! I would love to read your book. Please enter me in the drawing. Thank you!
hi Judith,
Good advice and appreciate the information. I’ve published several cookbooks, and have been writing an historical food novel on the side. I keep putting it away to work on other things, but it is always on my mind. Look forward to reading your newest book.
Great to hear from you Ellen and best of luck on your ventures. We met at IACP in Portland and Seattle a while back.
I totally understand — reading fiction frees my mind and I feel like I can be more creative. I’m a food blogger and I love writing stories in my posts. Perhaps I’m just a wannabee romance writer. I do love the stories that involve food. I’d love to win the book, right now with Q4 around the corner I need some breaks.
Thank you, Marisa! It’s like exercising a different muscle group, but fun in its own way.
Thank You, Judith, for sharing your insight and your very interesting journey! I hope to win a copy of your book!
Thank you, Peggy, and good luck!
Great tips an article. I appreciate Judith sharing her tips and insights and I’m looking forward to reading The Cake Therapist. I will also look for her other books since I don’t think I’ve read or seen any of her books.
Thank you so much, Veronica, and best of luck!
I just finished your guest post and want to run back to my unfinished novel, pick up the pieces and make myself sit still long enough to get to work. On the other hand my local book shop opens in 43 minutes. Food -based, food -stuffed, food -roasted, cake based! You’ve helped me remember Diane’s great post , November 13, 2013, “One hundred Verbs For Recipes”. Loose associations and tangential thinking. Thank you for writing.
When the time is right, you’ll know it, Mary.! My best to you.
I would love to read this book.
Thank you so much, Anne, and good luck!
I read and enjoyed both The Cake Therapist and The Memory of Lemon.
Thank you so much, Kate! That means a lot to me.
I would love to read this book! I have devoured every food themed book I can find. And yes, knowing how to write recipes helps immeasureably in order to write an accurate and tasty tale.
Thank you so much, Sasha, and good luck to you!
Sounds like a great book! Can’t wait to read it!
Thank you, Gail. Hope you enjoy it!
Thank you for this post! I love food-based novels and have been dancing (tip-toeing) around writing one of my own. I really love your suggestions and will use them as my jumping-off point to just do it! Thank you again. I am looking forward to reading The Cake Therapist and The Memory of Lemon.
Good luck, Laurie! Let food-driven fiction be in your future!
Love everything about these two books, very excited to add them to my reading list, thank you for being on Dianne’s blog.
Glad you liked the post, Carin! Good luck!
I am so glad to hear of your novel. I look forward to reading it. I am in the midst of writing a novel about dogs with a culinary twist. I have a long ways to go but find it an amazing creative outlet. Best!
People are dog-crazy and well, then there’s the food. Sounds like a winner, Stacey!
I’m so pleased you did write these books! A well written foodcentric book is a tricky beast to write.
“Julia and Me”, “A Summer in Provence” not to mention the “Little Bakery” series demonstrate this and it appears you have the gift! Thanks for the opportunity
I love those books, too, Kathleen. Good luck to you!
True joy indeed to get lost in one’s work… That is my dream. Love to get therapized reading The Cake Therapist.
Thank you, Kim. Of all the therapies, the cake kind is the best!
This really gave me something to think about with regard to food writing. It’s opened some possibilities I’d never considered. Would love to read this but sadly outside the USA.
Good lucky, Sally, and hope this gave you food for thought.
Food and reading? Yes, please. Thank your for the opportunity to win.
Good luck, Kelly!
Based on the title alone, I’d love to read The Cake Therapist. Thanks for sharing your experience as a cookbook writer who has moved into food-novel writing. I hope to make a similar move—I have a food memoir manuscript looking for a home and a lot of ideas for food fiction. Have always dreamed of writing a cookbook, and I admire anyone who has done so. So much research and dedication involved!
Thank you, Chris. My best to you and hope your projects come to fruition!
Thanks so much for sharing this information. I have always wondered about food-fiction. I look forward to reading your work.
Good luck, Kimberlee! A little cake therapy is good for everyone!
So very excited to read both of your novels! I have a feeling they will keep me up all night, turning pages and imagining how delicious the food tastes.
Thank you so much, Andrea, and hope you enjoy!
Judith: I’ve been writing fiction for years, with food and beverages /beer as the centers. When you said your book fell into the womens’ fiction with a mystery thread, it validated what I came away with from a writers’ conference in Vermont just last month. I’d love to read The Cake Therapist.
Thank you, Kate Cone, and good luck with your work!
I have just joined a food-based book club and would love to bring a suggestion to it; this one sounds good!
Thanks so much, Suzannah! And your group can have fun with concocting your own rainbow cake as a treat.
Sounds very intriguing! Have been so far just daydreaming about more food-related writing, fiction or non -fiction. Hope to learn more of your craft and congratulations or your success
Thank you so much, Lia. Day-dreaming is my super-power, ha ha. My best to you.
Hats off to you, Judith. Your step-by-step approach to the writing, critiquing, and finding an agent, are truly exemplary.
This book sounds like perfect bedtime reading. I write freelance and used to be the “food writer” for my state’s largest newspaper.
Combining my love of food with fiction is something I’ve thought about so I’m definitely going to read The Cake Therapist – one way or another.
Thank you so much, Judy. My best to you!
All of the books on my library list are food fiction. I find it so refreshing to read books that incorporate food, recipes, food references, etc. It really spices things up!
Glad you love food fiction like I do, Dorothy! Thank you!