Samantha Vérant: On Romance and Recipes

Samantha Vérant is a travel addict, a self-professed oenophile, and a determined, if occasionally unconventional, at-home French chef. She lives in southwestern France, where she’s married to a sexy French rocket scientist she met in 1989 (but ignored for 20 years), a stepmom to two incredible kids, and the adoptive mother to a ridiculously adorable French cat.

When she’s not trekking from Provence to the Pyrénées, embracing her inner Julia Child, or searching out ingredients and spices, Sam is making her best effort to relearn those dreaded conjugations. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

In this post, Samantha discusses how her writing process changed while writing her new contemporary romance novel, The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique, her advice for other writers, and more!

Name: Samantha Vérant
Literary agent: Kimberly Witherspoon and Jessica Mileo, Inkwell Management
Book title: The Spice Master at Bistro Exotique
Publisher: Berkley
Release date: December 6, 2022
Genre/category: Women’s Fiction/Contemporary Romance
Previous titles: Seven Letters from Paris, How to Make a French Family (both memoirs published with Sourcebooks) and The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux, and Sophie Valroux’s Paris Stars (women’s fiction/contemporary romance with Berkley)
Elevator pitch for the book: After struggling with major setbacks while opening her flagship restaurant in Paris, a talented chef decides to enlist the help of a wealthy and very eccentric spice master to get her life-long dream on track—but the deal she makes comes along with a caveat: She has to work with the woman’s egotistical—and annoyingly sexy—son. As she cooks her heart out, she discovers how spices and scents can transport her—and, more importantly, how self-confidence can unlock the greatest magic of all: love.

IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]

I’m an American who has lived in southwestern France for 13 years and cooking “French” is a passion of mine. Like my protagonist, Kate, I also gained the French freshman 10—in kilos, not pounds—when I first moved here. Pastries and cheeses and breads, oh my!

At any rate, all of my books thus far mix Franco-American culture and food along with a healthy sprinkle of romance. As for the meals in this book (recipes included), some ingredients and meals are hard to find here (like good Mexican and sushi) and I wanted to spice things up, based on the way I cook.

I also wanted to write a fun story filled with quirky characters. A few of them (like my giant cat) are inspired by real people I’ve met. Note: My cat may think he’s human, but I’m not going to buy him a diamond collar like his doppelganger in the book no matter how much he insists.

I had two previous books published with the Berkley imprint, and my agent and I pitched this book via a proposal—a very detailed outline/synopsis. It took me about two months to write the proposal and about one month for my editor to get back to me with an offer. I had four months to write the book to meet the deadline.

With such a detailed outline, all of my characters fleshed out, and all of my research on hand, it was easy to get the words on the page. I enlisted beta readers to read the first draft and then my agent gave me her edits and notes. From here, we turned in the manuscript in mid-November of 2021 and I went through another round or two of structural edits with my editors, Cindy Hwang and Angela Kim. After the approval of this almost final draft, copy edits came in a month later.

From start to finish, Spice Master took around 14 months from the initial synopsis to the finished product, the idea behind the story remaining the same. Of course, there were cuts and tweaks along the way.

I’d always considered myself to be a pantster … until I wrote the proposal for this book. Although I had the general idea for the story (the beginning, the middle, and the end), before attacking the first pages and moving onwards without rhyme or reason, writing out a four-page synopsis really made my writing process move along seamlessly.

This isn’t to say that I’d planned out every scene, as there were some new ideas that came to me while writing. With that said, I suppose I’m now a planster—a plotter who occasionally flies by the seat of her pants. Surprise! The way I start a project has definitely changed.

I always mull over the edits my agents and editors give me, knowing everybody wants the book to be the best it can be. There were some issues to tackle and sometimes inspiration hits when you least expect it—like in the middle of the night when you’re trying to sleep … and then you can’t get any shut eye because you’re excited about the potential solution you’ve found. Those bingo moments are always satisfying.

An added bonus: You can finally sleep without your characters screaming at you to get it together.

This book takes place in the 10^th arrondissement of Paris. I hope readers discover another side of the City of Light they might not have been aware of, that they will learn a little bit more about French culture, and that they’ll have fun and laugh with my brand of tongue-in-cheek humor—a few cheesy food puns included.

Only one? I could go on forever!

Aside from not giving up and read, read, read in and outside of your genre, I think the best advice I can give is: Don’t think that once your book is written, agented, and sold, the work is over. You have to realize you’re only at the halfway mark and there is still tons to do—from edits to marketing to figuring out how to capitalize on TikTok’s #booktok (I’m working on the last one).

Basically, be patient and keep at it no matter if you encounter frustrating situations. Believe in yourself and your book. Write on!

Click to continue.