MURDER, NEAT… and a little bit twisted.
Who could guess that my past would be all over the short story, ‘The Mob, The Model and The College Reunion’, in the anthology MURDER, NEAT?
A few years ago, I was on stage for a book event, hearing happy applause. A hand went up, and a young gal with somewhat questionable social skills said, "You don't look anything like your protagonist."
I swallowed my wounded pride, dug deep into the wit-basket and quipped: "Not only that, I don't look anything like my author photo!" That brought the biggest laugh of the evening, of course.
But the incident prompted me to rethink a related question I get asked frequently. How close is the protagonist to the real me?
I've written 18 books and over 60 short stories. If the protagonist was me in all of those, it would be a pretty boring adventure for readers. And for me, as well. Part of the fun of being an author is putting yourself into the skin of others. Becoming the character you are writing, for just a little while. Leaving yourself behind.
However, sometimes I just want to write myself into a fun story (always a fun one...never a fearful one!)
So in ‘The Mob, The Model and The College Reunion’, I let the real me show through. Okay, I may be older now than Donna di Marco, the protagonist, is in this tale, but she carries my background, my on again – off again modeling career, my outlook on life, and definitely my wit. She even looks surprisingly like me.
Have you ever wanted to write a character who says what you're thinking? The things you don't actually say out loud?
Donna does that for me! And oh, it was fun to write them.
College reunions? I'm not a big fan. There were few women in my Commerce program, and the misogyny at the time was pretty brutal. Competition was savage between the young men, and my memories are mixed at best. Sometimes I was the bone to be fought over.
But I've discovered an interesting thing. Reunions sure are good for setting conflict. Old grievances resurface, even among the bank executives and corporate buccaneers of my class that have done so well financially. They don't forget the old days.
So I had a bit of sport, writing what might have happened if I had gone to our last reunion. In fact, I didn't go. Maybe self-preservation? Maybe I was too busy celebrating my recent marriage to an old college classmate?
Yes, the John of this story is the John Michael O'Connell who persuaded me to the altar not long ago. And yes, our classmates were shocked. So you can see how easy it might have been to concoct such a tale, and to lace it with the loopy humour I just can't seem to leave behind.
Not to mention the mob elements that always seem to sneak into my work.
Roman à clef? I'll leave that to your imagination.
The author at college:
The author today:
• Buy link for MURDER, NEAT
