I do enjoy Mary Kennedy’s work. Mary is a practicing psychologist and is the author of the Talk Radio Mysteries and the Dream Club Mysteries. She’s written nearly 50 novels and has sold over four million books worldwide. Her fifth Talk Radio Mystery, Death of a Shady Shrink, was released March 28. Mary lives with six neurotic cats in the northeast. She has tried unsuccessfully to psychoanalyze her fur babies, but she remains optimistic. You can visit her at www.marykennedy.net
It’s All Material
by Mary Kennedy
Whenever I do a workshop at a writers’ conference, someone invariably asks, “Where do you get your ideas?” This is an easy one. Everything in life is material. The sweet smell of newly cut grass, the melancholy sound of a screen door closing on a summer evening, a bit of dialogue overheard in the supermarket—it’s all grist for the mill.
Some of these experiences are funny. I was shopping in Trader Joe’s and bought a package of plant-based fish fillets. A couple of elderly women behind me in the check out line were fascinated.
“Excuse me, what is that?” one of the women said, pointing to the package.
“It’s vegan fish,” I told her.
She looked taken aback and repeated this information to her friend who gasped in surprise.
“Vegan fish? I never heard of such a thing. Does it mean fish that don’t eat meat or chicken?”
“Yes, I suppose so,” the first woman replied. “Or dairy,” she added. “Like ice cream.”
By this time, the people behind us in line were chuckling. The woman persisted. “Ice cream? Who would feed ice cream to a fish? It would melt in the water.”
“I don’t know,” her friend said, clearly annoyed. “You asked what it was and I told you!”
“Vegan fish,” her pal repeated, shaking her head. “The world has gone crazy!”
I haven’t used the vegan fish story in a book but I plan to.
Sometimes a whole plot comes to me from a single experience. I was sitting at the News Cafe in South Beach on a perfect day. I spotted a beautiful young blonde, struggling with shopping bags, make her way inside a hotel. The doorman greeted her with a big smile and took the shopping bags for her.
She was obviously someone who lived at the hotel. I found myself wondering why someone would live at a hotel and not a condo or apartment? A couple of minutes later, a young man carrying camera equipment entered the revolving doors. He was dressed in black, giving off New York vibes. A contrast to the young girl in a gauzy floral print sundress that looked like it was right out of a Lilly Pulitzer ad.
I found myself wondering how these two characters would connect in a novel. What if the girl was the daughter of a wealthy South Beach hotelier and she lived in the penthouse with her father.
The young man could be a film student at NYU in Manhattan. Perhaps he was visiting South Beach to film a documentary on South Beach history or architecture. The two met and were attracted to her. He was welcomed into her circle of dazzling young friends and immediately caught up in the exciting party scene.
Now to throw a wrench in the works. What if his story about filming South Beach historic spots was just a cover up? What if he was really filming an expose of the young blonde and her friends? (Think of those Girls Gone Wild videos). What if he fell in love with the girl and couldn’t go through with the assignment?
I stayed in Florida for another week and could hardly wait to get home and start working on the book which became Golden Girl. It was part of a three book deal I sold to Penguin Random House. Much of the first two, Movie Star and Confessions take place on a movie set.
Again, real experience played a huge part. I went to a private girls’ school like the one in Movie Star. Rolling hills, horseback riding lessons, archery and a mansion where classes were held. My school was never the setting for a movie, but I always thought it would be the perfect location.
In Movie Star, a movie company decides to shoot a summer flick at a high school. Everyone is excited. Some of the students will be extras and the main character finds herself in a speaking role. She’s actually cast as the love interest of a Hollywood heartthrob. What happens next? Jealousy from her classmates, a blow up with her boyfriend and hurt feelings from her best friend who wanted the role.
I wrote a sequel called Confessions. It’s the story of what happens when summer is over and Jessie, the teen star, finds herself in Hollywood, working for an entertainment magazine.
I’ve had bit parts in movies from my days down south and that time on movie sets came in handy when I was writing Movie Star and Confessions. Little details mean a lot. I knew that meals and snacks are provided by “craft services.” That bit parts are sometimes called “under fives,” because the pay scale drops significantly if you have fewer than five lines. That actors are given “sides” of a script, not the whole script. They receive just a few pages and highlight their dialogue with a magic marker.
And my days studying acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan came in handy too. Knowing how actors prepare for their roles, how they conquer stage fright, how they become keen observers of human behavior.
Ideas are everywhere and it would take several lifetimes to turn them into books. After forty-seven novels (35 for Scholastic and a dozen for Penguin-Random House) I’m never out of ideas. The exciting part is knowing which ones to jump on and turn them into books I hope my readers will love.
_______________
Facebook facebook.com/mary.kennedy.948
Facebook group page facebook.com/groups/1497885200485578
Facebook author page. facebook.com/MaryKennedyAuthor
More Places to Go
Donis on Facebook
Type M for Murder