Let me take you back in time. Itโs 2009, I now have a literary agent, and my dream of becoming a published author feels within reach. I spent ten years honing my craft, and finally had a completed book that an agent loved, and was ready to shop (industry speak for selling it to a publisher).
The book focused on two brothers: one with schizophrenia, disabled and unemployed, and the other a high-powered corporate executive, mainly interested in making money. I depicted the brothers as stark contrasts. Joe is all heart; despite his condition, his spirit remains undampened. His brother, Charlie, is the complete oppositeโwhat youโd call a cold fish. When people Charlie considers enemies begin dying, he fears he might be a closet killer with no memory of his heinous crimes.
I thought it was a good premise, but the publishers had some reservationsโ48 of them, if you count my rejection letters. The feedback was partly positiveโthis guy can writeโbut everyone universally hated my main character, Charlie. I broke rule one of fiction writing: readers have to care about the characters. Oops.
The thought of starting over was daunting. I lamented my situation over a couple of beers before a Red Sox game with my good buddy, Phil, whom Iโd met a decade earlier at grad school. Phil, who didnโt pursue writing as a career, but read a lotโoffered simple, and in hindsight, sage advice. โGive him a dog,โ he told me.
โA dog?โ I asked.
โYeah, write in a dog. People love dogs, so theyโll love people with dogs. Problem solved.โ
I had to admit, the logic was sound.
โA dogโฆโ I said, nodding slowly as the notion took root.
I called my agent the next day. โWhat about giving him a dog?โ I asked.
She didnโt hesitate. โA dogโฆthatโs good. Everyone loves dogs.โ
I went back to work. I called my cousin Ruth, whoโs a vet, and we talked about breeds until we settled on a Beagle, a rescue, of course. Then I gave the Beagle, whom I named Monte, a few quirks to make him come alive on the page. Monte loved chewing shoes so much that Charlie kept a โchew shoeโ in his desk, which he put on for his precious pooch to gnaw on while he worked. And Charlie, to his credit, made everyone walk with him during meetings so that Monte got plenty of exercise.
That was the extent of my rework, and we went back out on submission. A few weeks later, I received a publishing contract for three books. Whenever I share that story at a writerโs conference, someone will inevitably come up afterward and ask me about giving their unlikeable character a fish, a hamster, or some random pet, which I always encourage. Stories work not just because readers want to find out what happens next, but because they care about the characters.
But before that, the author has to care about the story, which is why I decided to take my writing career in a new direction. After the pandemic, I lost the desire to write dark psychological suspense because I felt the world was dark enough. Instead, I aimed to infuse more humor into my books, and lighten the mood by giving them a cheerful, summer setting while still maintaining the tension of my thrillers. Thatโs how Jamie Day was born, and my first book, THE BLOCK PARTY, became an instant bestseller. Now, Iโve returned with my third Jamie Day novel, THE LAKE ESCAPE, which follows three families who vacation together at the same lake year after year. But this year, secrets are bubbling up, and thereโs also a nanny with a hidden agenda, making things explosive.
Thereโs a dog in this book too: Nutmeg, a golden retriever who was also adopted from a shelter, but canโt overshadow my devotion to my first fictional pup, Monte, who gave me my career, and whom we can partially credit for all the books since.
Jamie Day lives in one of those picture-perfect, coastal New England towns you see in the movies. And just like the movies, Jamie has two children and an adorable dog to fawn over. When not writing or reading, Jamie enjoys yoga, the ocean, cooking, and long walks on the beach with the dog, or the kids, or sometimes both.
