Why former reporter is now making up stories

AS A cub reporter, Geraldine Comiskey was always in search of the true stories; now she makes them up.

But the former Southside and Northside People journalist points out that her fictional characters in her novels are more realistic than some of the strange characters she interviewed in her 30-year career as a roving reporter for various newspapers.

“Fact really is stranger than fiction,” she reflects. “But fiction is full of universal truths about the human condition, what motivates us, and how we would react in certain situations.”

Three of her novels have been published this year and, while they’re all comedies, they will appeal to very different readers.

“Chasing Casanova is pure chick-lit, and it’s aimed at the reader who wants something light to read on the beach,” she admits. “It’s what I call an ‘airport book’ – it even has a picture of a girl with a suitcase on the front cover, which I drew myself.

“Shampoo & Sympathy’ is a dark comedy about two hairdressers who open a salon in a snobby suburb and find themselves in a professional dilemma when one of their clients tells them that he has murdered his wife. Everyone tells their secrets to hairdressers, so I thought why not have someone confess a murder?

“Floozies is about a bunch of auld slappers who are notorious for stealing other women’s husbands and boyfriends. They’re sick of being shunned by society in general, so they set up a political party to fight for the rights of scandalous women.”

Judging by the reaction of her literary agent and a few discerning readers, the books appeal to a wide range of people. 

“I wrote them with female readers in mind, but men really enjoyed them too,” she revealed. “Some of the men who read them sneakily borrowed them from their girlfriends. I think it’s because men want to know how women think.”

While ‘Chasing Casanova’ is a work of fiction and any similarities to real people are totally coincidental, Geraldine did indeed live in Italy for three years (she speaks fluent Italian), and found that the multicultural English-language-teaching community attracted misfits and fugitives.

Like ex-pats everywhere, the TEFL teachers in the book are all leading double lives between home and their adopted country.

“They’re all escaping from something or someone, and they’ve lost a lot of their inhibitions,” Geraldine reveals.

Geraldine’s own life has been even more dramatic than that of her characters.

“If I didn’t have the photos and other evidence, I’d never believe half of it happened,” she states.

Some of her most memorable newspaper assignments have included “dunker training” in a submerged helicopter with the Royal Marines, boarding a trawler with the Irish Navy in a force nine gale, dancing on the wings of a bi-plane over Galway Bay, and getting set on fire by stuntmen in the Dublin Mountains.

She currently leads a quiet life in Shankill. “I’ve had enough action and mayhem. Now I’m going to let my fictional characters do all the mad stuff while I sit back and let it roll onto the page.”

All three novels are available as paperbacks and e-books on Amazon and in selected bookstores.