The Joy of Writing Outside the Lines
On reinvention, mystery writing, and boldly breaking the rules
There's an unusual detail about this week's 21 Questions: our featured author is primarily a novelist. Aside from her first book, a memoir, she writes fiction (she publishes some of it, including her latest book, under a French pen name, Danielle Postel-Vinay).
Danielle’s career is impressive on many levels (not just because she uses a pen name, though I love how old-school that is). Her fiction has won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and France’s Prix Bête Noir des Libraires, her books have been translated into more than thirty languages, and she has served both as chair jurist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and as a columnist for The New York Times Book Review.
But perhaps most impressive of all is her willingness to take risks, especially when it comes to genre. Over the course of twenty-five years, she has written nine books across five genres, ranging from memoir to gothic horror to fantasy to suspense, gleefully ignoring the conventional wisdom that writers should stick to one thing.
Her newest book, Murder Most Delicious, marks yet another turn. It’s a cozy Paris-set mystery that follows a former sommelier drawn into a murder investigation alongside an eccentric neighborhood watch led by an agoraphobic detective and her cat.
In this edition of 21 Questions, Danielle reflects on the power of saying no, fountain pens, and why she believes stories can alter reality.
21 Questions with Danielle Postel-Vinay
1. I couldn’t have written my last book without…
France.
2. What’s the thing most people get wrong about being a writer?
It’s a job with regular hours.
3. What’s your most common form of procrastination?
Instagram.
4. Do you read your reviews?
Only if my editor sends them.
5. Kiss, marry, kill: podcasts, newsletters, and speaking gigs.
This is tough for me because I’ve done all those things, have enjoyed them, and then have stopped doing them. I only engage if I’m 100 percent in. I’m a little like Elizabeth Taylor in this respect: I kiss, marry, then kill in quick succession.
6. What’s a writing habit you’re embarrassingly superstitious about?
I believe that the books I write alter reality, and so I’m careful about what I write.
7. What’s something you wish you’d started doing five years ago?
Saying no.
8. Where do you find new ideas, and how do you keep track of them?
Ideas come like lightning. I write them down in a notebook or they will disappear.
9. What’s the best piece of professional advice you’ve ever received?
Don’t dwell on the last project. Look forward. Make “NEXT’ your motto.
10. And the worst?
You must write to the market.
11. What’s on your nightstand right now?
The Keeper by Tana French.
12. What’s a writing rule you’ve happily broken?
Show don’t tell. Write what you know. I happily break as many as possible.
13. What tech tools (AI included) do you actually use—and which ones do you actively ignore?
I use Freedom to block the internet on my computer when I write. I use Scrivener and Word for my second draft (my first draft is written with a fountain pen). When organizing my notes for my latest novel, I used AI to put them into an outline, which I then revised into a workable outline. Mostly, I’m an analog author.
14. What’s the best non-writing skill that’s helped your writing career?
I’m ridiculously practical.
15. How many drafts before you show your editor?
Four.
16. Can you describe your ideal workday?
Coffee, work from 8:00 to 12:30, lunch, nap, back to my desk to revise until 3:00, gym, spend time with my daughter, dinner, bed.
17. How does that compare to your actual workday?
Coffee, work from 8:00 to 12:30, run errands, do social media, attend uninspiring meetings, deal with business-related bullshit, spend time with my daughter, dinner, bed.
18. What’s something about the writing life that still surprises you?
That I can imagine a story, write it down, and that people read it.
19. Fill in the blank: In five years, successful authors will all be _____
Nostalgic.
20. What is your new book about?
It’s a culinary mystery set in Paris called Murder Most Delicious. I wrote it under my married name, Danielle Postel-Vinay. The novel follows a sommelier who has lost her sense of taste as she goes to Paris, becomes embroiled in a murder, and joins a group of quirky French characters to solve the crime.
21. Anything you’d like to ask or crowdsource from fellow authors in the Author Insider community?
How does everyone discover new books?
If you enjoyed Danielle’s Q&A, you can learn more about her new book here: Murder Most Deadly.
More from Author Insider
Author Insider is where writers get the real story of publishing—thoughtful conversations with industry insiders and bestselling authors, clear-eyed analysis of where the market is headed, and practical strategies for building a sustainable writing career. Whether you’re just starting out or several books in, the goal is the same: helping you make smarter decisions about your work.
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Until next time,
Panio Gianopoulos
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Loved this. What a fun interview!