This is my second interview with novelists this week. I\u2019d like to introduce Wendy Dager.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m professional freelance writer Wendy Dager. I\u2019ve 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 <\/em>was a top five finalist in Court TV\u2019s Search for the Next Great Crime Writer, and was published by Zumaya Publications under its Enigma imprint June 2011. I Murdered the Spelling Bee<\/em>, 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,<\/em> which was a Fabri Literary Prize finalist and is now available on Amazon and Smashwords.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a writer for as long as I can remember, but started getting paid for my work when I was in my early twenties\u2014just 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\u2019s because I wrote the story the same way I write my nonfiction\u2014in a non-literary, realistic, what-you-see-is-what-you-get style. That\u2019s what I decided to do when I wrote the first draft of my first novel back in 2000. <\/p>\n Murdered the PTA<\/em> is about a rock-and-roll mom trying to live as inconspicuously as possible in suburbia, when her kid\u2019s elementary school PTA blows up and she becomes the prime suspect. It\u2019s basically a cozy mystery, but the point of view is first person\u2014something I do with my opinion column\u2014which 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\u2014but it\u2019s entirely fictional. I had lots of fun writing it, because I didn\u2019t have any expectations. I knew I wasn\u2019t writing the Great American Novel. My books are purely for entertainment. <\/p>\n A common phrase is \u201cwrite what you know,\u201d which a lot of people don\u2019t do, but which happens to work for me. That is, I write fiction, but it\u2019s 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\u2019m writing about stuff that\u2019s really happened. When my book I Murdered the PTA<\/em> came out, a lot of folks in my town were trying to figure out if it was a who\u2019s-who and if they were in it! So, it\u2019s kind of a compliment that readers\u2014not just where I live\u2014could identify with the characters, the setting and the plot.<\/p>\n The first book was fairly easy to write\u2014and rewrite\u2014but the second book, a sequel, was a little harder because it was more like work than playtime. <\/p>\n Wendy\u2019s Approach<\/strong> Naming characters is like naming children. It\u2019s 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\u2019 names were that of people who\u2019d become famous in the interim, including one \u201ccelebutante,\u201d and two that were character names in a popular sitcom.<\/p>\n Another interesting incident: I went to a local book club meeting\u2014the club members had read my book as their selection of the month\u2014and learned that the name of my first novel\u2019s PTA president was similar to that of a real PTA president who happened to preside over my children\u2019s school\u2019s PTA many years before I got there. It was a crazy coincidence, but I was mortified when I found out.<\/p>\n Creating and Developing Characters <\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t really outline anything I write, whether it\u2019s fiction or nonfiction. I kind of already know where I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n
\nMy 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\u2014just like real, living, breathing people\u2014have specific ways of speaking and behaving, they sometimes react oddly or unexpectedly to unforeseen circumstances. Or, perhaps, they have a dark side we don\u2019t know about until something awful happens. When one of my book\u2019s readers told me she was very surprised by something one of my characters did, I said, \u201cMe, too!\u201d It probably sounds weird, but I get a kick out of surprising myself.
\n
\nStory Development Wendy Style <\/strong>
\nI may be unusual in that I sort of go with whatever my imagination tells me to do at the moment. I don\u2019t have anything entirely plotted out in my head or on 3\u201d x 5\u201d cards or in a detailed journal. Occasionally, I\u2019ll scribble down some ideas for plot twists\u2014usually illegibly, in the middle of the night, on a notepad on the nightstand, with a pen that\u2019s nearly run out of ink\u2014and 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 \u201cseat of your pants\u201d kind of writer. Which is not so bad. At least I get to love what I do.<\/p>\n