Q&A with Robin Spano

Robin Spano’s debut novel, Dead Politician Society, follows Clare Vengel on her first undercover assignment after the major is murdered in the middle of a speech. The sequel, Death Plays Poker is due out in October and follows Clare through her second assignment as she traces a string of poker players who are strangled in their hotel rooms.

Spano speaks to Open Book about writing as therapy, some of her greatest influences and keeping sane.

Open Book:

Was there a moment for you when you decided that you wanted to be a writer?

Robin Spano:

Ha! I don't want to be a writer. It’s more like a twisted compulsion I’ve always had—to create a fictional world with fictional people who somehow reflect the way I see the real world and make it make sense to me at the same time. The fact that other people are interested in reading my therapy sessions? Awesome. And a bit scary.

OB:

What are some works by other authors that you feel have influenced your own work?

RS:

Jonathan Kellerman and Elizabeth George are my two biggest crime writing influences. I like Kellerman’s pacing and George’s range of point-of-view characters.

Between writing my two books, two other novels influenced my approach to craft: Kim Moritsugu’s Old Flames and Jessica Westhead’s Pulpy and Midge. Old Flames helped me see that I could write a scene from inside a character’s head instead of from the outside looking in, creating more emotional immediacy. Pulpy and Midge showed me that well-placed description—a quirky image here and there—can bring a scene to life without slowing it down for long-winded picture-painting (something I avoid at all cost).

And new writers continue to influence me every day. Whenever I read a book, I split my mind in two: the reader, reading for pleasure, and the writer, reading for craft study.

OB:

You grew up in downtown Toronto. Is this why you chose the city as the setting of your novel? Why do you feel the city was right for your novel?

RS:

Toronto is where this series had to start. My plan is to take Clare traveling internationally, but she has to come from a place I know intimately. Where you grow up shapes you in ways that are hard to define.

OB:

You say in your bio that you live vicariously through your protagonist. How much of yourself really is in Clare Vengel?

RS:

My mother and my husband are both convinced that Clare is who I would be if I could shoot a gun and take apart a car. But I see Clare as her own person, maybe struggling with some of the same issues I had when I was her age, like who she wants to be, what kind of man is her truest match, how to connect with her career passion. Also like me, Clare loathes artifice and loves adventure. But we have as many differences as similarities. Our taste in food is radically different. She picks up physical skills much faster than I do. She doesn’t read a lot. I understand her, I have affection for her, but she’s definitely herself.

OB:

While working on Dead Politician Society, who did you imagine your audience to be? Were you writing with an audience in mind? Do you feel that this is the audience you reached with the release of your book?

RS:

I wasn’t writing with an audience in mind—I was writing a book that I thought would entertain me if I was reading it. The people who connect with Dead Politician Society the most enthusiastically tend to be young women (under 35 or so) and politicians. The one person I thought would definitely not read it—the real life Toronto mayor who inspired the opening murder in the book—enjoyed his own demise immensely. Go figure.

OB:

How did you decide to approach the story from multiple perspectives?

RS:

I wanted the mystery to unfold without a lot of plodding police work and I wanted to showcase the clues with minimal time out for analysis. I thought a fun way to accomplish that would be to show the suspects’ world through different eyes, dropping clues here and there but mostly just telling a story.

OB:

How did the writing process for Death Plays Poker differ from that of Dead Politician Society?

RS:

The process was identical in terms of structure—I start with a premise, introduce some point-of-view characters, get a solid beginning down, write an ending, then figure out how to connect the beginning to the end. This must be my natural creative process, because my third book is working itself out in the exact same way.

But as I move from book to book, I’m picking up new writing tools. It feels easier to make words do what I want them to. As a result, I think the characters are taking on more life; they’re more real to me, moving through the pages. Actually, with the third book this is a bit of a problem, because they’re more independent than I’d like them to be and it’s harder to keep them corralled into the plot, but that’s another story...

OB:

Did you face any of the same challenges working on your second novel as you did when working your first? What were some of the new challenges you encountered and how did you tackle them?

RS:

The similar challenge was the mystery—making sure all the puzzle pieces were in place and not too clearly on display. (I want each mystery to be both satisfying and solvable.)

Unique to Death Plays Poker was that I was still writing while reviews were coming in from Dead Politician Society. It was unnerving at first (I wasn’t used to my writing being public), but reader reactions ended up being invaluable. Blog reviews especially helped me see how Clare was connecting with her audience. The main complaints with Dead Politician Society: readers wanted a slower introduction to get used to all the characters and they wanted more of Clare. So in Death Plays Poker, I’ve addressed both of those things: characters are introduced (a bit) more slowly and instead of Clare getting every third or fourth scene, she’s the lead in about half the scenes and we get deeper inside her head. I don’t take advice if it doesn’t feel right, but I like the changes that readers have helped me make to the series going forward.

OB:

You say that you live with a man who hates reading but still encourages you. What is that like?

RS:

It’s awesome. I am such a natural introvert that if left alone, I could hole up with my computer and live in my virtual world for months on end. My husband does everything he can to help me find the solitary space I need to work, but he also drags me out of my own head if I stay in that space too long. He gets me out snowboarding and boating and traveling and socializing—doing fun things that keep me sane.

OB:

In a piece for The Mark, you say that three of the key elements to writing a mystery novel are fast pace, high tension and guaranteed resolution. What are some of your personal favourite reads that embody these?

RS:

Lisa Brackmann’s Rock Paper Tiger is genius. Tension is high, the plot rockets along, and I feel like I’m inside the protagonist (or at least right beside her). This is the kind of book I learn from, as a writer, with each page I turn.

OB:

If there was one piece of advise you wish someone had told you from the start about writing, what would it be?

RS:

I was extremely lucky with the people I had giving me advice, so there’s nothing I wish I’d heard in retrospect. Great advice I did receive was:

1. Learn to speak in public. It's not like a writer is constantly out talking, but being comfortable talking to groups is a real asset for when the occasions do come up.

2. Meet other writers. Both online and in person, I've found chatting with other people doing the same job as me has been invaluable. The emotional support, the brain-picking for promotional ideas, the discussions about craft—it’s like having colleagues in an otherwise solitary profession. It’s also great for cross-promotion—doing group readings, joint signings, blurbing each other’s work. But the real value I’ve found has been the human connection: suddenly I know lots of other people who are weird in the same ways I am.

3. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. When everything is new, it’s easy to get scared and retreat. But the only way forward in a new career is to take chances, allow yourself to mess things up, learn from your mistakes, and go forward stronger.

4. Keep learning craft. Just because I have one published book does not mean that I know how to write. I attend seminars, read books on writing, and study other writers’ works, constantly trying to hone my craft and grow as a writer.

5. Get an agent. Even if you can find a publisher on your own (the more likely scenario in Canada), an agent can help your career in ways you can’t even see, at first. They’re smart about the industry and can help you look at your career in a long term light.

Robin Spano is a crime writer from Toronto, living in Vancouver. She loves to explore the world in her boat, on her motorcycle, and traveling new places with her husband. Her first novel, Dead Politician Society, was released last September and its sequel is expected this fall.

For more information about Dead Politician Society please visit the ECW Press website.

Buy this book at your local independent bookstore or online at Chapters/Indigo or Amazon.