This is my second interview with novelists this week. I?d like to introduce Wendy Dager.
I?m professional freelance writer Wendy Dager. I?ve written and sold button slogans, greeting card copy, press releases, articles, advertorials, short stories, a biweekly newspaper opinion column, two novels and more. My humorous mystery novel I Murdered the PTA was a top five finalist in Court TV?s Search for the Next Great Crime Writer, and was published by Zumaya Publications under its Enigma imprint June 2011. I Murdered the Spelling Bee, the second book in the series of Daphne Lee-Lee Misadventures, was published by Zumaya May 2012. I also wrote a very dark and kitschy thriller, the novella Thrift Me Deadly, which was a Fabri Literary Prize finalist and is now available on Amazon and Smashwords.
I?ve been a writer for as long as I can remember, but started getting paid for my work when I was in my early twenties?just a few decades or so ago! I primarily write nonfiction, so fiction has always been very difficult for me. I once won the top prize of $500 in a short story contest, and I believe it?s because I wrote the story the same way I write my nonfiction?in a non-literary, realistic, what-you-see-is-what-you-get style. That?s what I decided to do when I wrote the first draft of my first novel back in 2000.
Murdered the PTA is about a rock-and-roll mom trying to live as inconspicuously as possible in suburbia, when her kid?s elementary school PTA blows up and she becomes the prime suspect. It?s basically a cozy mystery, but the point of view is first person?something I do with my opinion column?which made it much easier for me to write. It was somewhat based on my experience sitting on an elementary school PTA board for seven long years?but it?s entirely fictional. I had lots of fun writing it, because I didn?t have any expectations. I knew I wasn?t writing the Great American Novel. My books are purely for entertainment.
A common phrase is ?write what you know,? which a lot of people don?t do, but which happens to work for me. That is, I write fiction, but it?s based on real life, not zombie ghost vampire werewolves wearing fifty shades of grey. The problem with writing about everyday things and putting a spin on them is that people sometimes think I?m writing about stuff that?s really happened. When my book I Murdered the PTA came out, a lot of folks in my town were trying to figure out if it was a who?s-who and if they were in it! So, it?s kind of a compliment that readers?not just where I live?could identify with the characters, the setting and the plot.
The first book was fairly easy to write?and rewrite?but the second book, a sequel, was a little harder because it was more like work than playtime.
Wendy?s Approach
I don?t really outline anything I write, whether it?s fiction or nonfiction. I kind of already know where I?m going, and then I start writing and see where it takes me. With my novels, my biggest goal is to make it hard for the reader to figure out whodunit, but not insult them by making the ending totally implausible.
Naming characters is like naming children. It?s an awesome responsibility, but also a terrible one if you mess up. I had to change some names in the years between my first novel being represented by an agent, becoming a Court TV finalist and publication, because several of my characters? names were that of people who?d become famous in the interim, including one ?celebutante,? and two that were character names in a popular sitcom.
Another interesting incident: I went to a local book club meeting?the club members had read my book as their selection of the month?and learned that the name of my first novel?s PTA president was similar to that of a real PTA president who happened to preside over my children?s school?s PTA many years before I got there. It was a crazy coincidence, but I was mortified when I found out.
Creating and Developing Characters
My characters, like my plot, mostly develop as the book is written. I like to think of spontaneous character development as another way to move along the action. Even though fictional characters?just like real, living, breathing people?have specific ways of speaking and behaving, they sometimes react oddly or unexpectedly to unforeseen circumstances. Or, perhaps, they have a dark side we don?t know about until something awful happens. When one of my book?s readers told me she was very surprised by something one of my characters did, I said, ?Me, too!? It probably sounds weird, but I get a kick out of surprising myself.
Story Development Wendy Style
I may be unusual in that I sort of go with whatever my imagination tells me to do at the moment. I don?t have anything entirely plotted out in my head or on 3? x 5? cards or in a detailed journal. Occasionally, I?ll scribble down some ideas for plot twists?usually illegibly, in the middle of the night, on a notepad on the nightstand, with a pen that?s nearly run out of ink?and you can imagine how that looks in the morning. After I decipher what may or may not be a brilliant idea, those twists and turns may change once I get to that chapter. Instead, I defer to my imagination, which tends to dominate my fingers on the keyboard. I guess you can call me a ?seat of your pants? kind of writer. Which is not so bad. At least I get to love what I do.
For more about Wendy Dager, visit http://www.wendydager.com
Source: http://www.matilijapress.com/publishingblog/?p=2349
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