Author Spotlights

Volume XV Samantha Bailey, author of Woman On The Edge

Cece chats with Samantha Bailey, author of the domestic psychological thriller, WOMAN ON THE EDGE

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 Cece chats with Samantha Bailey, author of the domestic psychological thriller, WOMAN ON THE EDGE

It all started when she saw a woman standing close to the edge of a subway platform holding a baby.  The woman looked off- like she was tired and quite frazzled.

And with that, the idea for the novel, Woman On The Edge, popped into Toronto author Samantha Bailey’s mind. She pulled out an empty gum package, (from the book’s plot I would guess it was Juicy Fruit), and she started writing furiously.

“But it was just me projecting all of my fears onto the woman,” Bailey says laughingly.

Bailey’s laugh reminds me of water balloons popping, ready bursts of laughter that cascade throughout our chat and foster one of the easiest and most chill interviews I’ve conducted in a long while.

A method writer who likes to ‘experience the experience,’ Bailey, when writing Woman On The Edge, decided to take advantage of the offer she received from her police detective friend, which was to be treated like a suspect for a day – a murder suspect- at a Toronto police division station.

It would be a definitive experience in understanding how Morgan, one of the main characters in Woman On The Edge, a woman who unequivocally proclaims her innocence, would feel like being the prime murder suspect for a good portion of the book.

“My detective friend met me in the sally port where they bring in the suspects,” Bailey says. “He took me up a creepy creepy elevator to other floors and he showed me where suspects are usually finger printed.” (Bailey was surprised to discover that fingerprinting is now done digitally; in fact, she sounded pretty disappointed that ink-all-over-one’s-fingers is no longer a thing).

Asked her if she wanted to be locked up in a cell as a part of the ‘murder suspect’ experience, Bailey’s immediate response was a resounding, Yes!

In saying so, Bailey sounds like a kid-who-has-been-up-all-night-waiting-for-Santa.

“But,” Bailey says, “I forgot that I am completely claustrophobic. My friend, (the detective), told me to knock when I wanted to get out. As the door clanged shut behind me, I looked around and saw the white-washed walls and the steel bed – it is just like you see on television. I was petrified; I felt so trapped. It took me less than 30 seconds before I knocked on the door and screamed, I want to get out!”

And so right after the police station where did the author go?

“I went for a drink,” she says, roaring with laughter.

That experience aside, Bailey loves the psychological aspect of writing in the domestic thriller genre.

“I am fascinated by psychology and the complexities of human nature – the shades of grey inside us all,” she says. “I love characters who have made a mistake or have found themselves in a situation that changes everything for them. That one incident; that one wrong place or wrong moment, situations where they have to find the inner strength to survive.”

The host of troubled personalities that Bailey loves to explore include sociopaths and narcissists, personality types she makes sure are well represented in her blockbuster Woman On The Edge, thriller.

“I love the whys of these kinds of personalities. I find them completely fascinating,” Bailey says with her fortune cookie laugh, the edges curled in on what you know is another twisted-thriller idea. “These are the people who can walk around feeling no guilt, no responsibility; it is so compelling.”

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What is also pretty cool is the outpouring of emotions and feedback that Bailey has been garnering from women as a result of the Nicole character in Woman On The Edge. A mother who suffers from postpartum depression, her condition is exacerbated by the unexplainable events that keep occurring around and to her. As Nicole falls into a deep anxiety-filled funk of postpartum, one that is deviously facilitated and manipulated by…..well, I can’t say who – as that would be a plot spoiler, one that would ruin Bailey’s deliciously intricate spider web of characters and clues – readers get an intimate insight into what postpartum is like for new mothers.

“When I first started writing Woman On The Edge I knew postpartum depression was a traumatizing experience that can define early motherhood,” Bailey says. “I was very sensitive to the feelings around it – I didn’t want to be using it as just a plot line for my book. I have friends who have gone through postpartum and with their permission, I have included some of the feelings and emotions they have gone through in my book. I have had a lot of women tell me that they felt connected to Nicole. Like this character, women find it hard to ask for help, to tell someone that they are struggling, especially for someone like Nicole who is the powerful CEO of a leisure wear company.”

A former journalist and freelance editor now on hiatus, Bailey, who has her Masters of Education in Applied Linguistics, once took a course in imagination.

It is my personal observation that this smash hit author, whose novel has been translated into nine languages, could most definitely teach the course herself.

“My next book is about middle-aged motherhood, the things we hide from others and even from ourselves, and yes, it is a domestic thriller,” Bailey says with a laugh. “My ongoing hope is that my voice is unique enough and compelling enough that I continue to garner new readers throughout my career. And even though I love writing thrillers, I am a very fearful person. I see danger everywhere. I was much more of a risk taker before I had kids. So writing these kinds of stories is a place for me to put my fears and my darkest thoughts. Writing is like breathing for me. I cannot imagine my life without it.”

Keep breathing Samantha. And keep writing.

Your readers are ‘on the edge’ waiting for your new book.

 

 

Cece is the feature cover writer for several prestigious publications and is an informed, connected and enthusiastic book blogger at cecescott.com.  Her first book, The Love Story, was published in 2019. Her second book will be coming out in the spring of 2021.

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Cece is also working on a book of Daily Reflections for Auto Immune Condition Warriors.

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2 thoughts on “Volume XV Samantha Bailey, author of Woman On The Edge

  1. Carol Karl says:

    This is a very interesting article. I really enjoyed reading about Bailey’s experience at the police station.

  2. Lorne says:

    Fascinating article, makes me want to read this book

Comments are closed.