A Life of Their Own

by Gayle Bartos-Pool

Not every writer does this but let me just say this…my characters made me do it.

I have written a couple dozen books, mostly fiction, with a few books on how to write thrown in because I wanted to help other writers get their ideas on paper and into print. I write mostly detective novels because my wonderful husband, Richard, said something that changed my life when I couldn’t get my spy novels published early on in my writing journey. He said: “You used to be a private detective, so why don’t you write a detective novel?”

Words of wisdom from a smart man. So, I wrote that first detective novel, got it published and wrote a dozen or so more books as well as several short story collections featuring a detective or two.

But something happened while writing those books. When I was working on the second detective series featuring a guy named Johnny Casino, I did something my old acting teacher taught me. I didn’t want to be an actor, but I thought that class was a good way to learn how to write dialogue for the movies or television. What Rudy Solari taught us was to write a short biography of the character we were playing so we knew who that character was when we walked onto the stage.

I used that method to get an idea who the main characters were in the books I was writing. While I was writing about Johnny Casino, I let him “talk” and tell me who he was. What I learned was that he had been trained by the first detective I had written, Ginger Caulfield. Who knew?  I guess those two characters knew it.

When I started the third detective series about a cool guy named Chance McCoy, lo and behold, he knew Johnny and had been trained by Gin, too. But the coincidence didn’t end there. One of the characters in the three spy novels I penned is a friend of Gin Caulfield. And Gin’s uncle is the main character in those spy novels.

So, after writing three different detective series, I have three detectives who all know each other. But it didn’t end there. These private eyes know this other guy from a stand alone novel I wrote years earlier. The character, Jason Kincaid, has recently retired from the police force at this point in time. There’s a reason he retired, but that’s another story.

Now I have these four characters who all know each other. What do I do with them? Why not have them start a new detective agency and see what happens. So Four Detectives was written. It consists of four stories from each member’s past and four new stories after they start working together.

But there is something else about these people. They have something in common that started in their respective pasts which is the real reason they know each other now and are working together. When they realize this, everything changes.

Hey, this wasn’t my idea. They told me their story and I just wrote it down…

I wonder how many other writers have this happen.

Author: gbpool

A former private detective and once a reporter for a small weekly newspaper, Gayle Bartos-Pool (writing as G.B. Pool) writes three detective series: the Gin Caulfield P.I. series (Media Justice, Hedge Bet & Damning Evidence), The Johnny Casino Casebook Series, and the Chance McCoy detective series. She also penned a series of spy novels, The SPYGAME Trilogy: The Odd Man, Dry Bones, and Star Power. She has a collection of short stories in From Light To DARK, as well as novels: Eddie Buick’s Last Case, Enchanted: The Ring, The Rose, and The Rapier, The Santa Claus Singer, and three delightful holiday storied, Bearnard’s Christmas, The Santa Claus Machine, and Every Castle Needs a Dragon. Also published: CAVERNS, Only in Hollywood, and Closer. She is the former Speakers Bureau Director for Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles and also a member of Mystery Writers of America and The Woman’s Club of Hollywood. She teaches writing classes: “Anatomy of a Short Story,” (The Anatomy of a Short Story Workbook and So You Want to be a Writer are available.) “How To Write Convincing Dialogue” and “Writing a Killer Opening Line” in sunny Southern California. Website: www.gbpool.com. View all posts by gbpool