Witcracker is a comedic exploration of family, tradition, and absurdity, set in a Jacobean mansion-turned-tourist-trap where chaos reigns as business and personal lives collide. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

I’m going to try to answer this without needing a Spoiler Alert.

Right. The inspiration for the novel is real. It came from an old and world-famous European treasure whose construction is, let’s say, surprising. It could easily have been built differently. What if it had been? What if another version – just as ancient and just as authentic – were found? Somebody would stand to make a lot of money.

How could this happen in North America? Dozens of ancient buildings from Europe were bought and rebuilt here early in the 20th Century. That’s a fact. Many of their owners fell on hard times and many buildings became tourist destinations.

One tourist destination I know pretty well is the area around Niagara Falls. There are millions of visitors annually. The tourist trade can’t live on a twenty-minute visit to the Falls. New attractions capitalize on tourists with money in their pockets and time on their hands: amusement parks, winery tours, theatre. Businesses, big and small, thrive on predictable trade. A new world-famous treasure in the mix is not just an opportunity, it’s also a threat.

Every possible tool will be used – from lucrative offers to media disinformation and even sabotage. What could be more normal?

Start with ordinary people and build an extraordinary – and predictable – chain of events.

How do you balance humor with deeper themes like commercialization and human relationships in your storytelling?

That’s a great question, but I’d like to turn it on its head. How do I balance commercialization and digital tools with the deeper themes of humour and human relationships?

Our humanity is always under threat and our resilience has been forever supported by a sense of humour, a sense of what is absurd, and a sense of what is truly important. That doesn’t mean threats are not real. They are, but we can survive – even get stronger – if we don’t knuckle under to fear.

Ordinary people, stubborn and funny and generous in equal measure, are always humanity’s best hope. We can’t forget that.

I tried to show that in the storytelling by asking a simple question: what would that character do when faced with a particular challenge?

The dialogue feels so natural and relatable. Are any characters or conversations inspired by real-life experiences?

Sure. Like all writers, I’m a thief. A little bit of this person, a little bit of that. A little bit of this place and add some of that.

I’ve worked in a carnival, on a newspaper, in tourist attractions, in advertising, in theatres. I know how they work and what their challenges are.

I’ve written a lot of plays and you learn how dialogue works. When you get down to it, plays are just what the character says (or sings, which is really just slow talking). The rest, the scenery, the costumes, the actors – are outside the playwright’s control. You write knowing they will give the story form and substance. But they’re not in the script.

I figure dialogue in a book can work the same way – except I have a much bigger production crew. The space between the ears of the reader can hold a lot of people and scenery. I try not to get in the way.
The characters are normal people – I know them, including what motivates them. Naturally, they enter a conversation with different motives. What they hear is what sparks their response. Whether they change their opinions is a question of balancing character, determination, and listening.

Can you share insights into your process of crafting such a diverse and eccentric cast of characters?

Everybody can seem eccentric if you only see part of their character. Comedy relies on ordinary people dealing with increasingly extraordinary events. That will always bring out the very best and the very worst of people. I go where the characters take me. I trust them.

Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website