This week it’s my pleasure to
host a writer known for her generous sense of humor. My guest has been called “Canada’s undisputed Queen of
Comedy.” Folks, meet Melodie Campbell!
Melodie Campbell has been a banker, marketing
director, comedy writer, college instructor, and (she claims) possibly the
worst runway model ever. Melodie got her start writing comedy, so it’s no
surprise her fiction has been described by editors as “wacky” and “laugh-out-loud
funny.” Melodie has over 200 publications and six awards for fiction. She was a
finalist for the 2012 Derringer (U.S.) and Arthur Ellis (Canada) awards for
crime writing. Melodie is the Executive Director of Crime Writers of Canada.
I asked Melodie to contribute to this blog a piece of
writing about what “The Joy of Story” means to her. She responded in no
uncertain terms what she expects a novel to do for her.
Don’t
Lecture—Entertain Me!
Who doesn’t love a good story? Something that takes you out of yourself
and lets you live another life for a little while. You can do me no greater
honor than to call me a great storyteller.
So you can imagine my
angst when a magazine interviewer challenged me about the purpose of fiction. Should
it always contain a moral message? Specifically, should crime fiction?
My instant answer: No! The
purpose of crime fiction should be to Entertain, and nothing should come
before that.
Why? We have countless
other venues that preach morality. Religions seek to teach us how to behave. Every
day we are bombarded by newspapers, radio and other nonfiction outlets that
expose us to the “evil” of greedy politicians, nasty world despots, and out-of-control
celebrities.
If fiction— and crime
fiction in particular—were required to follow a moral code, we would miss so
much. If the good guy always won—if the bad guy always
got caught—wouldn’t that make crime fiction lamentably predictable?
Does that mean crime
fiction can’t teach us something? Of course it can! Put me in the mind of a
serial killer for a few hours. Let me know what it feels like to experience the
overwhelming greed of a con artist. Dress me up as a torch singer, with a black
heart and a gun in her stocking.
Let me discover
something about how other people think, if only for a little while. But above
all else, entertain me. Don’t preach at me, even from a distance. I don’t want
it from my fiction.
Just tell me a damn
good story, thank you. Take me out of the real world for a few hours.
That’s the joy of story.
Speaking of damn good, entertaining stories, Melodie
Campbell’s fourth book, The Goddaughter,
a comic crime caper, received the following review from Library Journal: “Campbell’s comic caper is just right for Janet
Evanovich fans. Wacky family connections and snappy dialogue make it impossible
not to laugh.” Library Journal, Sept.
2012.
Praise like that is to die for. (Die laughing? Way to
go!) And although The Goddaughter was
not Melodie’s first book, (her first book, Rowena
Through the Wall, was an Amazon Top 100 bestseller), it appears that the
Goddaughter will be the heroine of a series. Melodie’s fifth novel, The Godddaughter’s Revenge has just been
released by Orca Books.
An
irresistible cover, no? Like author Melodie Campbell, it’s entertaining, funny,
and tempting. It makes you want to read what’s inside, so here’s the opening of
the book, to get you started:
Okay, I admit it. I would rather be the proud possessor of a rare
gemstone than a lakefront condo with parking. Yes, I know this makes me weird.
Young women today are supposed to crave the security of owning their own home.
But I say this. Real estate, shmeel estate. You can’t hold an address in
your hand. It doesn’t flash and sparkle with the intensity of a thousand night
stars, or lure you away from the straight and narrow like a siren from some
Greek odyssey.
Let’s face it. Nobody has ever gone to jail for smuggling a one bedroom
plus den out of the country.
However, make that a 10-carat cyan blue topaz with a past as long as
your arm, and I’d do almost anything to possess it.
But don’t tell the police.
Melodie is a "funny" lady and a wonderful writer. If laughter truly is the best medicine, her books are helping a lot of people to "get well." :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Patricia! You are very kind. I'm donning my big hat today...with a signing and reading at our large Chapters store. gulp. Believe it or not, I quake at these things. Hence the hat. Something to make people giggle. Back later...
ReplyDeleteFirst, thank you Melodie for bringing John M. Daniel to your page. Next, thank you John for your succinct lessons on incorporating humor. You hit on two examples I witnessed this past weekend at the Miami Book Fair International. Will Schwalbe injected just the right amount of humor to sweeten his mother's battle In The End of Your Life Book Club, and Josh Hanagarne's balance of humor and candid enlightenment as he battles Tourette's in his The World's Strongest Librarian. John M. Daniel was my editor for my first novel, The Eyes Have It, and I treasure his wisdom and guidance. These lessons will inspire me to make my readers smile, chortle, and perhaps laugh out loud in my next book. Madelyn Lorber.
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