Murder, Mystery, and Romance

M Doty sat down with Cause of Death writers Winchester and Georgia to talk murder, mystery, and romance. Here's what they had to say.

Writer Fact: There are limits to where you will go to research an episode.

MD: So, you both seem like relatively normal guys. How do you come up with all of the horrifying murderers in Cause of Death? Is it hard writing for them?

W: I like to get really immersed in what I'm writing. When I was writing 'In The Cards', my cubicle walls were covered in tarot cards and books about voodoo. I was definitely the creepy guy in the office for a while. It didn't help that I also had shuriken hanging on the wall, but that's only because I'm a big Naruto fan.

MD: Georgia, I know you started out writing for Surviving High School. Is it weird switching from such a lighthearted product to something so much darker?

G: I actually enjoy the contrast. Switching between the two provides a nice variety. Though in terms of research, it can lead to some very weird situations. Anyone looking through my search history would think I'm a complete psycho. It's mostly the combination that's bad. Where do you bury a body and not get caught? How do you tie a ponytail? What are the effects of drowning on a human body? What type of stores do teen girls shop at?

MD: Speaking of SHS and COD, now that we've announced the Surviving High School novel, there's a lot of talk on the Cause of Death Facebook page that fans want a COD novel. What do you think of that?

G: I would LOVE to have a Cause of Death novel. LOVE. Hopefully fans from both games will help make the Surviving High School novel a hit and we'll get that chance!

W: That would be awesome! I wonder if we would do a novelization of the Maskmaker story, or some new Maltara adventure altogether? ...They probably won't leave that decision up to me though, because I would just write The Spectacular Adventures of Kai Kalaba.

MD: Okay, last question. Blaise and Jeremy. Explain that pairing.

G: I think there's something significant in looking at how opposites attract. You see it in real life all the time. Nice girls date jerks. Straight-laced guys go after free-spirited girls. Sometimes we're secretly looking for that person who will push us beyond what we're comfortable with.

W: I think the BlaiseBird thing is all so refreshingly simple. I think Blaise was fed up with drama and just went for something she wanted, for better or for worse.  Everyone else's love life on CoD is so pained and complex, so it's nice to have a romance that is so unromantic.