You started out as a business major before switching to English literature. How did that change shape your writing career?
I wrote non-fiction at first, organized articles that progressed logically, like business usually does. But I found my articles lifeless and dull, and that made me eager to write fiction. I realized publishing is a business, which means that authors, agents, publishers, and publicists have a defined role in the publishing process and should treat each other with professionalism and respect. Contract Law taught me that oral promises are never binding. If misunderstandings occur, only written contracts apply. I also learned I had a lot of studying to do about the craft of fiction before I could write it.
“Risky Pursuit” is the book you say you “absolutely had to write.” What made it so urgent or personal for you?
I wanted to explore the impact of divorce on older kids. When parents decide to divorce, is it better to split up when the children are young, or wait until they’re young adults or college age? Where do commitment, honesty, communication, courage, forgiveness, and reconciliation fit in? Kids are very tuned to these things.
Teens sometimes get a bad rap as brainless creatures primarily interested in sex, music, and illegal substances. But many are wise beyond their years, displaying courage and integrity in difficult situations. Those are the ones I like to write about. Maybe in addition to providing a suspenseful, entertaining read, Risky Pursuit can serve as a roadmap for young adults with problems.
Your stories often place ordinary people in extraordinary danger. What draws you to that type of premise?
I like thrills and suspense. I want to care so much about a character that when he/she is in jeopardy, I agonize with them and root for them. Perfect lives lived by winsome characters are pretty dull. But ordinary characters thrust into a dilemma, now that’s something to pique your interest.
We’re all pretty ordinary until we’re faced with a crisis. Confronted with a dilemma or danger, we’re forced to make choices. That’s when we reveal what we’re made of. And when stories get interesting.
Do you base your characters on people you know, or are they purely products of imagination?
My characters combine traits of people I know, wish I knew, or read about. Faced with danger, they bring unique qualities to the crisis. Sometimes they surprise themselves. Sometimes they surprise me.
How do you strike the balance between suspense and emotional depth in your books?
I know my characters really well, so that when they’re threatened and terrified, they respond according to their traits and beliefs. Non-stop suspense wears readers out. So when the tension gets high, it’s time for a break to let the character absorb what happened. He’s got to process it, decide what to do, then take action. When he does, he’ll face another nerve-wracking dilemma. Striking a balance comes from watching others solve problems; it’s as much instinctive as it is craft-inspired.
The Aggie Mundeen mysteries are known for their humor. How does writing a rom-com mystery differ from writing a high-stakes thriller like “Risky Pursuit?”
I was writing Nine Days to Evil, psychological suspense about a newly-wed girl in graduate school—a proper, industrious girl who was programmed to do things right. She was so serious, she was boring. When Aggie Mundeen popped up in her class, she was everything Miss Industrious wasn’t. I was hooked. Aggie and I were ready to have fun.
The humor in Aggie Mundeen Mysteries comes from watching a transplanted Chicagoan, desperate to fit in, averse to aging, and longing for love, face Texas types, outrageous crimes, outsized personalities, and a by-the-book, hunky investigator. Maybe Aggie is my curious, whimsical, self.
Maybe Decker is my thoughtful, more logical self. But Aggie and Decker both have whimsical moments as well as moments of reflection. Writing about Aggie, and then Decker, provides a nice balance. I stopped writing an Aggie mystery to tell this story I badly wanted to write about Decker Savage. I’m now writing about Aggie, but I’m also thinking about what will happen to Decker in his next book.
https://nancygwest.com/aggies-blog/
What inspired you to create Aggie Mundeen as a character?
She’d made enough mistakes, had enough foibles in her personality, and enough uniqueness to her humor to carry a series.
The Plunge launches your Aggie Mundeen LAKE mysteries. How does the setting influence the tone and pace of the story?
When Aggie’s first lake mystery opens, The Plunge, a 500-year storm and flood ravages people, property, flora, and fauna from Central Texas to the Gulf Coast - a setting of catastrophe, fear, bravery, and readjustment that affects everyone struggling to survive. When Book 2 opens (in progess), survivors are still trying to cope, readjust, and learn to live again as changed people. Aggie and Sam are still a couple, but they’ve changed. The magnitude of the storm sets the tone and pace of the story. But there’s still humor in the book.
Do you plot your mysteries and thrillers extensively, or do you discover the story as you write?
First, I am fascinated by a recurrence, an event, or an idea. Then I think about what kind of person would be most affected by it. What is their age? Sex? General outlook? What is their greatest fear or persistent hope that would be terribly threatened by what occurs?
My character begins to take shape. When I know him/her well enough and understand them, I begin to write. I tailor events to affect them, and I know how they will react. I am plotting in the sense that I devise scenes to stimulate my character. I discover the story in the sense that new scenes, characters, and reactions come to mind as the story progresses.
Many of your books feature courageous female protagonists. What qualities do you believe make a memorable heroine?
My characters can be male or female, young or old. Fear, weakness, courage, ineptness, boldness, empathy, bravery, or boldness are not exclusive to sex or age. My characters exhibit these qualities and others.
How do you keep readers guessing without making them feel misled?
With offhand words, mundane actions, transitory events, random occurrences, misplaced objects, misunderstandings—elements we encounter and react to daily.
What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned while researching for your novels?
I learn so much with each novel: the importance of exercise, Texas Hill Country critters and vegetation, operations of a working ranch, the effects of genetics and heredity, the lethality of mixing household cleaners, the conception and construction of the San Antonio River Walk, forecasting weather events, the aftermath of floods, San Antonio neighborhoods, the convergence and flow of rivers, the intricacies and lingo of baseball, to name a few subjects. I just learned that a great Pinos Nois comes from the Alsace region of France.
Have you ever scared yourself while writing a suspense scene?
My heart beats faster, and I feel anxious. I have also laughed out loud at a character’s antics.
What’s next for you after Risky Pursuit and the forthcoming Aggie Mundeen lake mystery?
I’m thinking about Decker Savage’s next story.
How has your experience been working with AllAuthor?
Wonderful! I especially like the GIFs they create about my books, and that they allow me to make my own. They’re very supportive and generous.
