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Ask Abby: Plot & Structure

Session #3 in Writer in Residence Abby L. Vandiver's yearlong series on writing your novel.

To write a good novel, you need to understand story structure and plot. In this class, learn the importance of utilizing the essential framework of how a novel should be written.

Abby L. Vandiver is the William N. Skirball Writers' Center's Writer in Residence. The prolific Abby writes under several pen names. As Abby L. Vandiver, she has approximately 20 self-published books as well as the traditionally published Romaine Wilder Mysteries from Henery Press. In this trilogy, beginning with Secrets, Lies and Crawfish Pies, an East Texas medical examiner and her feisty, funeral home-owning auntie solve murders in their small town. Abby also edited the 2021 anthology, Midnight Hour: A Chilling Anthology of Crime Fiction From 20 Authors of Color.

As Abby Collette, she has two mystery series published by Berkley Penguin Books. A Deadly Inside Scoop, first in the Ice Cream Parlor mystery series, introduces us to an MBA-holding, millennial granddaughter who comes home to run a family-owned ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. 

Abby Collette's second crime trilogy from Berkley is the Books & Biscuits mystery series. Body and Soul Food stars a set of fraternal twins who reunite and open a bookstore and soul food café. The second book in the series, Soul of a Killer, came out in October 2022. 

Abby's newest pen name, Cade Bentley, debuted August 30, 2022 with Where Wild Peaches Grow, a deeply emotional novel of family, cultural heritage, and forgiveness.