When You Think You Know Everything, Think Again

Writer: Cara Bertoia

When I was younger and working at Caesar’s Tahoe, players would sit down at my game and invariably ask the following question: “What’s a nice girl like you doing working in a joint like this?” I would always look around me where there were rows of dealers like me, fresh-faced recent college grads trying to postpone adulthood as long as we could, and think Lake Tahoe (America’s all year playground) was a great place to do it.

I spent two decades working as a croupier. I didn’t realize it at the time, but every day was research. When I decided to write a thriller about casinos, I thought writing a novel would be a breeze because I knew everything about casinos. I am here to tell you that I learned painfully that knowing your subject is such a small part of the process.

When I left Lake Tahoe, I went to work for Princess Cruises. My novel, Cruise Quarters, is about my experiences living and working on a cruise ship. I met my Scottish husband onboard. When we left ships, we moved to Palm Springs just as casinos were opening up in California. My team members were a fascinating group of people from all over the world. Everyone had a different story about how they got in the business, most involved escaping tyrannical governments.  I knew I had to tell their story, especially since I worked at a Native American casino. I had so many stories of actual crimes I decided to write a thriller.

I had to research historical events to make sure I got it right. How did Native Americans win the right to open casinos on their reservations, and what was the historical timeline?  Luckily my husband was also a pit boss, so he could answer my technical questions about money laundering and odds. I had to learn about police procedure because I wrote a mystery. I spent many hours on the Internet researching Native Americans, and the proper use of capitalization. If you think rules like when to capitalize the word tribes as it applies to Native Americans is simple just Google it. I also had to research the dialogue for some of my foreign characters to make sure it sounded authentic. Here’s a tip, read your whole novel out loud and record it to see how it sounds.

During the Covid crisis I was querying. The Wild Rose Press decided they liked Casino Queen. I spent the next year working with my wonderful editor Kaycee to make my novel as good as I could. At the end of that process, we were both so burnt out that she suggested that I send it to six people who had never seen it to read it. My cousin pointed out when a character’s age wasn’t clearly defined. A pit boss clarified one of my gambling calculations. My college professor friend corrected some punctuation mistakes. They even discovered a plot hole that needed to be filled. Even with an editor, those readers made my book so much better.

Here’s another tip, even if you think you know how to spell a place, or a brand, always double check. I was sure I knew the way to spell Louis Vutton imagine my surprise when I learned it was Louis Vuitton. Be careful about the names of companies you use, some companies are very serious about their trademarks. I bought The best punctuation book, period and referenced it every day. Keeping your verbs in the right tense is just one of the many challenges you will  face.

Correcting all the mistakes in a novel is mind-boggling, so before you query, hire an editor if you have the resources. Also make sure that you have people that share your taste in books read your story. Does it flow, does the plot make sense and are the characters engaging?

Then be prepared to rewrite. I like the re-writing process. That is when comments get funnier, dialogue becomes sharper, and descriptions become more vivid. Even with this article I have rewritten it three times and now my husband will check it for punctuation errors.

Let me leave you with this advice, write the book that you want to read because you will be reading it over and over. But the reward for seeing your book in print makes all the hard work worthwhile.

About the Writer