Write this way, sir

Daniel Craig, GM, Opus Hotel, Vancouver: "I conceived of the idea for my novel while I was at the Pan Pacific hotel, where I worked for a few years after my graduation from UBC."

I always wanted to be a writer, but I was approaching 30 and I realized that I couldn’t keep calling myself one if I didn’t ever write anything.

I thought it would be fun to plot out a murder mystery. They say write what you know, so why not set it in a hotel? Murder at the Universe took eight years from conception to getting accepted for publication. It’s set in a fictional New York hotel called the Universe, where the owner of the hotel gets murdered and several of the executive staff are suspects. I got a three-book deal and I’m just finishing up the second book.

I’m up at five every morning and I write for two hours. Those two hours, when I’m alone and have a fresh mind, are more valuable than four hours in a regular day. I have so much confidence as a hotel manager because I’ve been doing this for years. But when I go home and write, I’m a little boy.

It’s a total escape. Writing is so much harder for me than managing a hotel. Except that with writing, I don’t have to deal with people – other than myself. I’m dealing with fictional characters and fictional scenarios.

The owners of the Opus think it’s great, and they’ve been very supportive ­– people love the idea of a writer in residence – although I had some explaining to do about the plot.