William Dean’s latest book could have been ripped from today’s headlines.

The Astoria author has published “The Have-Nots,” and is at work on his fifth. The latest is a novel in which a radical priest hold billionaires hostage on an island.

Dean is also the Coast Weekend beer columnist, who highlights the thriving North Coast brewery scene in publications and a blog.

He describes that portion of his creative output as “the fun side,” while taking the novel writing more seriously. “They are like a split personality, they are really two distinct parts of my personality.”

Dean, 67, earned a journalism degree from San Francisco State University and worked at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. His destination newspaper was Newsday on New York’s Long Island where he led investigative reporting into high-level political and business corruption, some of which led to reforms.

‘Creatives’

When he retired as a senior editor in 2018, he moved to be closer to West Coast relatives in Washington and California with the specific intent of publishing novels he never had time for.

Astoria appealed because it reminded him of his early journalism career living in small towns like Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border before moving to bigger cities.

The North Coast came with a support system that inspired him. “I credit Astoria for my books in a big way, because the town has this creative vibe to it,” he said. “It sends it out and I plugged into that vibe — it’s like pixie dust into the brain.”

This latest book is his fourth; his fifth will be narrative nonfiction, though he is coy with specifics.

“There are so many creatives who live here, and when I talk to them and am around them it rubs off on you,” he said. “I go to the Fort George Brewery and there are musicians, performers and artists there.

“It gave me the inspiration that I could blossom as a creative person — the people you rub shoulders with. Every gallery you walk through gives a little jolt.”

An idea

His first books were titled “Militia Men,” “Dangerous Freedom” and “The Ghosts We Know;” all featured small-town Oregon scenes.

He said the plot for “The Have-Notes” arrived long before the excesses of Donald Trump, Elon Musk and other billionaires dominated daily news cycles.

“It was just an idea that popped into my head,” Dean said. “It is a wonderful coincidence that it happened to have a theme of greedy billionaires being held hostage on an island by a radical priest. People applaud, because they want the billionaires to be accountable.

“The idea came to me in my sleep,” he added. “I tend to get these kind of crazy ideas when I am half asleep. I scribble notes, and some pan out. I get an outline of a story, leave the ending for later, and then map out main characters so I have a rough outline.”

He noted that his process is to ponder each character’s “back story” and do research, in this case how the priest character crafts a sermon. He said he dug into his “memory banks” for the main character, a journalist, although the man’s personal struggles are invented.

Process

The discipline of a productive newspaperman helps with his pace. “I write a minimum two pages a day,” he said. “I almost never violate that rule, as it builds momentum. It can be rough, but it has to be done.

“If I do two pages a day, I have 100 pages in short order and 200 pages in a few months. It is a great way to get that rough draft done. It is always a feeling of exhilaration, because I know the story will work because I have got the rough draft done.”

He estimates he completes 12 to 15 drafts per book. “Every draft makes the piece better,” he said. “It is difficult, especially if you make a change, because it ripples and you have to chase them down or you are going to become embarrassed. It is a fun, but difficult process.

While not entirely comfortable with the marketing process — “self promotion is not a journalistic trait” — he said he enjoys feedback from readers.

“The reward is when readers enjoy the book, when someone says, ‘I couldn’t put it down.’ That is one of the highest compliments that a writer can receive.”