This Guy Walks Into a Bar

Drawing Fiction From Real Life: How My New Crime Thriller Evolved     

Like the protagonist in my new crime thriller, This Guy Walks Into a Bar, I was once asked to ghostwrite a book by the mistress of a notorious crime boss. Unlike Joe Campbell, the everyman Average Joe from TGWIAB, I backed out, mainly out of fear.

But, over the years, I've often wondered, What If?

On a cold, rainy night many moons ago, I sat in a threadbare booth in a dimly lit bar across from a mysterious woman who just had to have her story told. Through the haze of smoke rising from her endless drags on a cigarette, I listened in awe as she regaled me with her fantastical stories.

My initial thought was that she was delusional. But as the minutes ticked by, I came to realize she was the real deal. Maybe it was the world-weary history etched into her face. A face that looked tired and worn beyond its years. Or perhaps it was the richly detailed stories that seemed too vivid to be fiction. 

What truly convinced me in the end was the stack of photos, mostly faded and tattered, that validated her seemingly implausible stories in living color.

I think about that night from time to time, wondering if I made the right decision. Could I have had a bestseller under my belt — or would my life have become a nightmare as it did for my hapless protagonist?

I'll never know the answer to that question. But it sure inspired me to write one hell of a story.