Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 3 Volume 9 | Page 7

the very expensive insulin that allows him to
live a normal life.
W HAT ’ S B EEN H APPENING I N M Y W RITING L IFE ?
When I developed the plot for Scammed,
the 5th book in the Revenge is Fun series, it was
the perfect one to intro-
duce a character inspired
by a person who caused
me tremendous grief and
big bucks several years
ago. Meet the character Al
Shady, a retired doctor
who is not a nice guy.
My ongoing desire to
do him in without risking a
prison term has begged for the right plot for
many years. When you are an author, you can
do that in print. It’s a perk for writers.
The character is inspired by an evil HOA
president who was a retired doctor and made
my life Hell for a few years. In the process, I
paid $40,000 in attorney’s fees which was not
reimbursable. Now you see why I wanted to
knock him off!
My unique freestanding house—a house I
loved—was part of a unique condo develop-
ment in Mar Vista, California comprised of my
house and one sixteen unit, four-story building.
It was built on property that was once owned
by MGM. The complex developed major con-
struction default problems including the big
building as well as my house. After the HOA
won the suit against the developer, this nasty
HOA president made sure the big building had
everything fixed, but tried to block fixing my
house, which needed over $125,000 of repairs.
I eventually won, but the memory of everything
I endured because of him impacted my love for
the house. It was sold as soon as the repairs
were completed.
And, that’s why I wanted to kill him in
print. Over the years, I considered so many
plots inspired by that situation, but nothing
F ALL 2019
seemed quite right until the one for Scammed.
This book was so much fun to write. I would
have loved for the real guy to read it. Unfortu-
nately, he had the nerve to actually die about
10 years ago. I saw it in the L.A. obits.
I won’t go into more of the plot here, but
look for a preview chapter on page .
And, for Silver Sisters Mysteries fans, the
5th book in that series, Murder on the Menu is
due to release before the end of this year.
P AINTED S TORIES
On October 5 Writers of Southern Nevada
presented their 13th Painted Stories program
at Gordon Biersch Restaurant in Las Vegas.
Keith Bettinger read two stories about Ron
Corbin, the survivor of a fatal LAPD helicopter
crash, and Ron was
the special guest.
Teri Maue read
from Sometimes a
Cookie is Just... and
I read a short “fill-
er” from Scammed.
Artist Meegan Boi-
ros dazzled the au-
dience as she
painted her im-
pression of each
story as it was read in front of their eyes.
http://nevadawriters.com for more infor-
mation about upcoming programs.
Dylan the Dog
Associate Editor
P AGE 2
Morgan St. James
Editor
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE