We’re joined today by award winning mystery author and
former newspaper reporter W.S. Gager. Her third book, A Case of Hometown Blues, was a finalist in the 2012 Daphne Du
Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. A
Case of Volatile Deeds, the fourth book in her Mitch Malone series about a
crime-beat reporter always on the hunt for the next Pulitzer will be out this
February. Learn more about W.S. and books at http://wsgager.com and her blog. – AP
Killing people in books keeps me from killing people at work
A friend has a tag line on her email signature that says: “Writing is
cheaper than therapy.” That is so
true for me. A couple of years ago I was working at a real estate office that
was suffering some growing pains.
It was splitting and individual realtors needed to decide if they were
going to stay or go to the other office. The realtor I worked for decided to
stay.
With the office staff being cut in half, the support staff would be
reduced and while I worked for a specific agent and just followed him, the
other people weren’t so lucky. It was everyone for themselves and the back-stabbing
began. It went on for two months as everything sorted itself out but was sad to
watch three people, who were friends, dissolve.
I hated working in that atmosphere. What I found really helpful was
writing about horrible people. I created a battle-ax of an office manager at a
real estate office who got to be horrible to anyone she didn’t want to talk to.
I believe that was the inner me dying to bang some heads together at my
real job. It really helped my stress level at work to be able to have her be
mean to my main character, Mitch Malone, as he came to ask questions about the
explosion in the office.
There were days I didn’t want to go to work. The four hours were shear
torture, but the emotion I channeled in the next four hours as I wrote A Case of Volatile Deeds was worth it
in hindsight.
Not only did I get a great book out of the turmoil, but the writing also
helped me deal with the emotional stress and be nice to everyone while I was
there. I knew I could write all the nasty things I wanted to say when I got
home.
If I hadn’t been writing, I might have gotten fed up with the back
biting and said something I might have regretted. I was able to hold it
together until everything settled and keep working with at least somewhat of a
cool demeanor. If they only knew that when I came home, my characters take on
murderous intentions. In the beginning of the book, bodies start piling up fast.
Could it be that I was killing off my coworkers? You will have to read the
latest Mitch Malone Mystery and let me know what you think. Have you ever
wanted to kill somebody (or seriously maim someone) and used a pen or keyboard to
do it?
A Case of Volatile Deeds:
Mitch
finally scores a weekend dinner with a cute receptionist, but
true to his reporter instincts an explosion in a high rise office building
makes him stand up his date as he runs for an exclusive. When he
investigates, he learns his date is the only casualty in a botched robbery
at a real estate office. When femme fatale Patrenka Petersen returns,
Mitch learns that much of what he knows about his date and her work aren’t
what they seem. His world continues to twist when the police captain asks for
his help and a city hall informant is found floating in the river. Mitch
must keep his head down or a cute dog with a knack for finding dead bodies will
be sniffing out his corpse.
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